Marshall University Athletics
@HerdWBB Takes On League-Leading UTEP, UTSA
2/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes
Live Video!
SCOUTING THE MINERS
UTEP is 18-1 overall and 9-0 in Conference USA. The Miners received 29 points in the latest AP Top 25 and 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. UTEP has four players who average at least 11.5 points per game, led by Jenzel Nash's 13.7. She is also the team's leading rebounder at 5.6. Starr Breedlove leads the team with 69 assists, 57 steals (league-high) and a 39.4% clip from long-range (26-for-66), while Daeshianna McCants has 15 rejections. Cameasha Turner (64-for-75) shoots free throws at 85.3%. The Miners rank in the top half of Conference USA in 17 statistical categories, including the top of the heap in scoring margin (+12.7), steals (11.7) and turnover margin (+5.11). However, the Miners are last in the league in 3-point percentage (.267).
SHARPSHOOTERS
Marshall made eight of its 17 3-point attempts in the 64-61 win at UAB for a season-high 47.1%. That is the best mark in a Conference USA game since the program made 50% (9-for-18) in a 69-60 win at UCF on March 1, 2012. On the flipside, the Blazers' 18.2% mark (4-for-22) from deep was a season-low for a Thundering Herd opponents.
CONSISTENCY
Marshall point guard Norrisha Victrum has become a more consistent scorer since the calendar turned to 2016. In her first 12 games this season, she notched double figures just five times. In her last eight contests, she has hit that mark in six games and has been the team's second-leading scorer at 10.0 per game.
LEADER!
The Thundering Herd's Norrisha Victrum (2.1) is the league's individual leader in assist-to-turnover ratio.
FREE THROW ACCURACY
Talequia Hamilton hit two clutch free throws with five seconds left to complete Marshall's fourth-quarter comeback from 22 down against Charlotte. In fact, she has significantly improved her charity-stripe shooting in the Thundering Herd's nine conference games, going 18-for-22 (.818). In 11 non-conference games, she went just 17-for-29 (.586).
CAREER-HIGHS
Leah Scott set a career-high with 13 free throws made and tied a career-best mark with 26 points in the 64-61 win at UAB.
TURNING POINT?
In Marshall guard Taylor Porter's first 10 games as a member of the Thundering Herd, she shot .286 (12-for-42) from 3-point range, culminating with an ankle injury in the opening minutes against WVU Tech on Dec. 22. After sitting out Marshall's win over Southern Illinois, she has gone 14-for-34 (.412) from distance in the last nine games, all league affairs.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
The Herd is outstanding when the following happens:
13-0 leading with five minutes left
11-0 leading at half
8-0 holding opponents to 60 points or less
13-3 when making more free throws
10-1 when outrebounding opposition
10-3 when three or more players get double digits
RECORD BOOK WATCH
The Herd has a few players who are approaching career milestones and rising up the ranks of the program record book.
Senior Leah Scott has scored 336 points this season for a career total of 1,169. She is the 19th player in team history to score 1,000. Scott currently ranks 10th and needs 23 to pass Cindy McCauley (1994-98) for ninth. She also ranks sixth all-time with 292 free throws made.
Senior Norrisha Victrum can also be found in a few places in the record book. Victrum has 338 assists and just passed Kim Lewis (1984-1988) for fifth place in the school's all-time records. Victrum is currently eighth in 3-point field goals made (105) and needs 113 points to become the 20th player to reach 1,000 for her career.
Junior Chelsey Romero has 24 blocks this season to give her a career total of 108. She is in fifth place all-time and is the fifth player in program history with 100 in a career. She needs eight more rejections to pass former teammate Chukwuka Ezeigbo (2011-15) for fourth on the school's all-time list.
