Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
SMU
SMU Defeats Marshall Women, 74-64
2/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Jillian Samules scored a game-high 21 points as SMU topped the Marshall University women's basketball team, 74-64, Sunday afternoon in front of 1,831 fans at MU's PinkZone game at the Cam Henderson Center.
Samuels hit 5-of-9 three-point attempts in the win. Brittany Gilliam scored 17 for SMU (17-9, 7-6 C-USA) while Christine Elliott had a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 boards.
Tynikki Crook, in her second game back from injury, led the Herd (14-12, 6-7 C-USA) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Three other Marshall players hit double figures as Chantelle Handy scored 12 and Kendra King and Veronica Ruiz scored 11 apiece.
Marshall got off to a slow start, missing its first four shots before Crook connected on a bucket and hit the ensuing foul shot to make it an 8-5 game in favor of SMU. Up 13-9 with 11:41 left in the opening half, Haley Day knocked down a three-pointer to put the Mustangs up 16-9, their largest lead to that point.
The Herd got rolling at that point, scoring the next nine points to take its first lead of the game, 18-16, with nine minutes left. Crook continued her hot start, tallying seven of the Herd's first 12 points. A layup by Kendra King knotted the game at 16 with 9:39 remaining before a pair of free throws by Adrian Randall gave MU its first advantage of the contest.
With Marshall up 23-22, the Mustangs knocked down three-straight treys to grab a 31-23 lead with four minutes left in the period. MU cut the lead to as few as four points before going into halftime down 36-29.
SMU extended its lead to nine points, 38-29, 30 seconds into the second half before Marshall went on a 16-2 run to take a 45-40 lead. Crook tallied five in the run. The Mustangs came right back, scoring the next 16 points to take their first double-digit lead of the game. They hit five three-pointers in the run, including three by Jillian Samuels. The run came in a span of just over three minutes.
The lead for SMU would eventually reach 13 points, 60-47, with 9:30 remaining as Alisha Filmore hit a bucket. Marshall did its best to claw back, closing the deficit to four, 66-62, with 3:27 remaining as Mystee Dale and Handy hit back-to-back threes, but it was not enough as SMU finished the game on an 8-2 run to take the game.
Marshall finished with a 43-38 edge on the boards while SMU finished with a decided 44.4%-33.8% shooting advantage. Almost half of the Mustangs points came from three-point range as they hit 12-of-23 attempts beyond-the-arc.
The women will take to the road next weekend, facing Memphis on Thursday before traveling to UAB on Saturday. They will return home to wrap up the regular season against East Carolina at 7 p.m. on March 3.
