Marshall University Athletics
Herd Women Welcome Tulsa And SMU To Cam Henderson Center
1/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's basketball team will continue its Conference USA schedule, playing host to Tulsa and SMU in a pair of weekend games at the Cam Henderson Center.
On Friday, the action gets started as the Thundering Herd takes the court against Tulsa at 7 p.m. before tipping off against SMU at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
With a 79-64 overtime loss at UAB on Saturday, the Herd fell to 10-6 on the year and 2-1 in the conference. That game saw the Herd overcome a 12-point second-half deficit to send the game to overtime. Marshall held UAB without a point over the final 5:33 of regulation to extend the game, however, the Blazers were lights out in the extra period, scoring 21 points while holding the Herd to six.
Last Thursday, Marshall began its road trip with a 61-47 win at Memphis. Chantelle Handy notched the first double-double of her Marshall career, grabbing a career-best 13 rebounds and scoring ten points.
Kizzy Hart had a stellar weekend, averaging 14.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals on the trip. Not to be outdone was Casey Baker, who averaged 15.0 PPG, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Defense and rebounds has been the story for Marshall through its first three conference games, leading the league in scoring defense and rebounds offense. The Herd has given up only 60.3 PPG and is tied with UTEP for the conference lead in that category. On the rebounding side, Marshall is averaging a conference best 49.7 per games, just ahead of UAB, who has averaged 49.0 in its first three C-USA games.
Head coach Royce Chadwick moved a step closer to the 500-win mark with the win at Memphis. His career mark stands at 498-225.
For Tulsa (7-9, 3-0 C-USA), defense has been its strength all season. The Golden Hurricane defense has held its opponents to a league-best 36.7 shooting percentage, a mark which is 53rd in the country.
Another dominating facet of Tulsa's game is its blocking. Tulsa is averaging 6.75 blocks per game in 2007-08, good for the conference lead and almost 2 per game more than UTEP's average of 4.86. Chanel Johnson accounts for almost half of the Golden Hurricane blocks as she has averaged 3.13 per game, the most in C-USA and eighth most in the country.
Marshall will mark Tulsa's first C-USA road test this season after starting out 3-0 at home. In its opener, the Golden Hurricane downed SMU, 75-62, in overtime before topping Southern Miss and UCF last weekend.
SMU currently stands at 12-4 and 2-1 in league play. Following its overtime loss to Tulsa, SMU also defeated Southern Miss and UCF in a pair of games last week. The Mustangs bring in a potent offense that averages 73.2 PPG, second in the conference and 37th nationally.
Free throw shooting is another strength for the Mustangs, who lead the conference with a 77.4% mark from the charity stripe. Janielle Dodds is second in C-USA and 35th in the nation, shooting 85.7% from the line.
All games can be heard live on Marshall's student station, WMUL 88.1-FM, which will also utilize a web broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Marshall and Tulsa tip off on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Henderson Center with Sunday's game scheduled for a 2 p.m. start. Next Wednesday, the Herd will begin a four-game stretch away from home, starting with its annual match-up against West Virginia in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic.
