Marshall University Athletics
Women's Hoops Travels To Conference USA Championships
3/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2010
TULSA, Okla. - The Marshall University women's basketball team will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 2010 Conference USA Championship, which is set to begin on Monday at the Reynolds Center.
Marshall, who finished the season with a 14-15 mark and a 6-10 record in league play, enters the tournament as the No. 9 seed and will face off in the tournament-opener against UCF, the No. 8 seed. The Thundering Herd and Knights will open up the tournament at 1 p.m. ET on Monday. The winner will advance to face top-seeded Tulane at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The Herd wrapped up the regular season on Wednesday, falling to East Carolina, 75-70. It marked the seventh loss in eight games for the Herd, who started conference play with a 5-3 mark. Tynikki Crook was the leading scorer against the Pirates, tallying a season-high 21 points.
After trailing by 15 points at the half, the Herd rallied to cut the deficit to a point in the closing minutes, but the late run was not enough as the Pirates hit its late free throw to seal the game.
One of the bright spots for the Herd has been the play of seniors Chantelle Handy and Kendra King down the stretch. Handy has scored in double figures in the last nine games, tallying 111 points over that span. It also gave her a chance of recording 1,000 for her career. She goes to Tulsa with 982 points for her career.
King has been MU's top player over the last 11 games, leading all players with 13.3 PPG. Her rebounding has also been solid, ranking second behind only Crook. She has hit double digits in scoring in six-straight games and nine of the last 11, hitting a team-leading 48.3% of her shots over that span.
Tynikki Crook will be looking to continue her postseason success. In six career postseason games, Crook has recorded a double-double in every contest on her way to berths on the All-Tournament Team as a freshman and last season as a sophomore. Since returning from injury against UTEP, Crook has scored 12.6 PPG.
UCF will be the first round opponent for Marshall. The Knights finished the regular season with a record of 10-15 and 7-9 in C-USA to earn the eighth seed. UCF finished the season strong, going 6-3 in the last nine games after starting league play 0-4. They topped Southern Miss, 84-72, last time out.
Marshay White was the leading scorer for UCF, averaging 11.8 PPG while Chelsie Wiley averaged 11.2. Emma Cannon averaged a double-double for the Knights with 11.1 PPG and 10.2 rebounds per contest.
Marshall is 5-4 in C-USA Tournament play and 4-2 over the last two years. Last season, MU opened play with a 76-57 win over Memphis before dropping UTEP, 72-70, in overtime. Southern Miss ended the run, however, coming away with a 64-56 win to advance to the championship game.
The Herd and Knights square of at 1 p.m. on Monday. The game can be heard on WMUL 88.1 FM or online at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Online Coverage
Conference USA will offer live online streaming video of the first eight games of the Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship and the first four games of the Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship from the BOK Center in Tulsa. Press conferences from the men's event and all game highlights will be available for free.
If you are a current Annual or Monthly subscriber to a C-USA school's All-Access package, you will receive all of that team's C-USA Championship games for FREE as part of your Annual/Monthly package. Current subscribers should either (1) refer to the interactive bracket here, click on the matchup, click on the Watch link next to their school and then log in with their normal information; or (2) go to their school's website (Links Here), log in with their normal account information and begin watching the game.
All of those games except for the games broadcast on the CBS College Sports Network are available by purchasing a subscription to CBS College Sports XXL. For more information on CBSC XXL and how to order, go to www.cbssports.com/xxl. If you are a current Annual subscriber to CBS College Sports XXL, you will be able to access ALL of the non-televised games as part of your subscription, PLUS audio/video coverage from other conference tournaments.
Annual subscriptions to a C-USA school's All-Access are for a 12-month period. Fans who wish to purchase an Annual subscription to a C-USA school's All-Access can do so by visiting the official athletics website and clicking on the All-Access graphic link.
