Marshall Hosts Conference USA Leader in Saturday Showdown

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall women's basketball team returns to action Saturday afternoon when it hosts Conference USA leader Rice. Tipoff against the Owls is set for 12 p.m. ET in the Cam Henderson Center.

The Thundering Herd enters the game with a record of 14-9 and 8-2 in Conference USA play. The Owls are 19-3 and 10-0 and lead the all-time series 8-5. However, Marshall holds an unbeaten 4-0 mark in Huntington.

The game will be broadcast on CUSA.tv and will also be carried on WMUL's (88.1 FM) Cutting Edge Sports Radio Network where it can be accessed through one of the Listen Live links at www.marshall.edu/wmul.

Last Time Out
(By Chuck McGill, HerdZone.com)
The last time the Marshall women's basketball team started 8-2 in league play was 2004-05 in the Mid-American Conference. The last time the program won four consecutive road games, as this year's Herd team has accomplished, was the same season. In fact, that season was the last time a women's hoops team here won six games in January … until now.

February continued to be good to Marshall at the Henderson Center on Thursday night as the Herd led wire-to-wire and pulled off another win, 67-55, against North Texas. Marshall, in its second season under the guidance of coach Tony Kemper, has won nine of 11 games since Christmas. The team is 14-9 overall and 8-2 in Conference USA, equaling the best 10-game start in the last 14 seasons.

Not shabby for a team picked to finish 13th out of 14 in the C-USA preseason poll.

"They feel like they have to earn respect," Kemper said Thursday night. "They're doing it, little by little."

They're doing it with defense. They're doing it whether senior Shayna Gore, who has her name all over the school's record books, scores in bunches or helps facilitate scoring for others. They're doing what few others thought they could, but they're doing it together.

"I feel disrespected when teams come in here," said senior guard Taylor Porter.

That is changing. After Thursday night's game, Marshall is in a tie for third place in C-USA. The 2004-05 team, which finished 12-4 in the MAC and shared the East Division championship, had the second most votes for the team picked to win the conference tournament title.

The Herd, after finishing last a season ago, is outperforming the preseason prognostication by 10 spots in the standings.

"I think they are earning respect," Kemper said of his players. "I believe we were picked in the spot we deserved to be picked in, and then we've handled it the way you're supposed to handle it. I don't think anybody slighted us."

Marshall jumped out to a 9-0 lead Thursday night, and Gore wasted little time getting started on one of her best statistical performances. She assisted on the game's first basket, then intercepted a pass and raced to the other end of the floor to hit a 3-pointer. She added two more buckets – the first one a nifty spin move and jumper from the left wing, and the second on a strong drive to the right side of the hoop – to give the Herd its 9-point cushion to start the game.

Gore alternated quarters between scoring and distributing. She finished with 25 points and tied a career-high with nine assists, but had 10 points each in the first and the third quarters. In the second quarter, she watched as Kristen Mayo, Princess Clemons and Taylor Pearson connected on 3s. Gore scored one basket in the second quarter as Marshall built a 10-point halftime lead, 36-26, but had three assists.

In the fourth quarter, the Herd made three baskets and Gore recorded the assist on each. Combining her points and assists, she was responsible for 46 of the team's 67 points (68.7 percent).

"Shayna's line is unbelievable," Kemper said. "She's such a good scorer and it's been part of her life for so long. At times she presses so much because she knows how good at it she is, but I also know how much better she makes players around her. She can get other people shots they can drain, and she did that tonight."

Marshall had no other players in double figures, but six players scored at least 5 points. Porter and Mayo each added 9, Pearson finished with 7 and Khadaijia Brooks had 6. Gore also tied for the team lead in rebounds with five, and finished with a game-high four steals.

The Herd held North Texas to 32.8 percent shooting (20 of 61), and forced the visitors into missing their final nine shots. The Mean Green went the final 8:25 without a field goal as Marshall put together its third separate three-game winning streak since Christmas.

"We're so small, so we have to play defense and it's going to lead to buckets for all of us," Gore said.

Kemper said the team's success is also linked to its ability to handle adversity. Marshall trailed Charlotte by 8 points last month, but rallied to win by 1. It took three overtimes and 90 points to knock off Louisiana Tech. During last week's two-game Texas road trip, the Herd trailed by 14 points at UTEP and 12 points at UTSA, but won both games.

"It's not perfect, but that's what they figured out," Kemper said. "It never is."

Next, Marshall plays five games against teams currently ranked in the top six of the C-USA standings. Combined, those teams are 86-29 this season. Four of them were picked Nos. 1-4 in the same preseason poll that had the Herd dwelling near the cellar.

"It is very unfinished," Kemper said of the season, which has six regular season games remaining. "I'm really excited to go through the group of teams we're about to go through. It's really going to stress us and it's really going to challenge us. The teams that we have played and beaten, they have made us better for this run of really good teams."

Marshall hosts first-place Rice this Saturday at noon. The Owls are 19-3 overall and 10-0 in league play.

"Saturday, if you're not doing anything in Huntington, you need to be in the Henderson Center at 12 o'clock," Kemper said. "Rice is tremendous. It's going to take a great, great effort to have a shot. We're excited about it; we're excited about the things we've done, but we don't sit on them long, which is why we've continued to play well."

Good Start, Road Record
With a win Saturday vs. Rice, Marshall would improve to 9-2 in Conference USA, the best league start for the program since the Thundering Herd began 9-0 during the 1988-89 season as members of the Southern Conference. Marshall is currently riding a four-game road win streak in league play. The last time the program had a longer road winning streak in conference action was 2004-05 when MU won five straight during its last season in the Mid-American Conference en route to a 12-4 mark

Thursday Triumphs
After Marshall's 67-55 win vs. North Texas, the Thundering Herd is 6-0 on Thursdays in 2018-19.

Bombs Away
Marshall's 47.4 3-point percentage against the Mean Green was the program's highest long-range mark in a league game since making 47.8 percent (11-for-23) at Southern Miss in a 63-53 win over the Golden Eagles on March 5, 2016.

Money
Marshall's Taylor Porter made 24 consecutive free throws dating back to the first quarter against Delaware State on December 29 before finally missing in the fourth quarter of Thursday's win over North Texas. For the season, she has missed just four (47-for-51) and her 23-for-24 mark (95.8%) in league play stands atop the conference's rankings.

Mayo Finding the Range
Marshall guard Kristen Mayo made all six of her 3-point attempts against Coppin State on December 1st and then encountered a 7-for-42 (16.7 percent) swoon over her next nine games. However, in her last seven outings, she has hit on 45.8 percent (11-for-24) from the arc.

Moving up the C-USA Career Ranks
Marshall's Shayna Gore is in lofty company when you compare her numbers to Conference USA's all-time records. She is currently fifth in league history in 3-pointers with 275 and 10th in scoring with 1,883 career points. The up-to-date leaders are below.

Gore in C-USA This Season
Gore can be found near the top of every statistical category in Conference USA this season. She is currently second in scoring (19.3) and 3-pointers per game (3.0), third in minutes per game (33.9), fourth in steals (1.9), sixth in free throw percentage (81.7%), seventh in assists (3.5), ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6) and 10th in 3-point percentage (37.0). In conference games, she leads the way with 35.4 minutes per game.

Long-Range
Marshall leads Conference USA with 8.1 3-pointers per game in league-only tilts.

Career-Highs
Marshall's Shayna Gore tied a career-high with nine assists in the 67-55 win over North Texas on Thursday.

33.4
Shayna Gore is currently averaging a team-high 33.9 minutes per game. The last time a Thundering Herd player logged more was 34.2 by both Leah Scott and Norrisha Victrum during the 2014-15 season.

Herd Rules the Paint (in wins)
Marshall is 12-1 this season when it has more points in the paint (or as many) and 2-8 when the opposition has more.

Hitting the Glass
Marshall is 7-1 when outrebounding the opposition this season and 7-8 when it fails in that endeavor.

Five to Play
Marshall is 12-1 this season when it leads (or is tied) with five minutes left on the clock and 2-8 when it does not.

Freebies
The Thundering Herd is 11-3 when it makes more free throws (or tied) and 3-6 when the opposition has the higher total. Marshall has made more (or as many) free throws than the opposition in five straight games, the longest streak for the program since it had the same number during the last game of the 2015-16 season and first four of 2016-17. Also, the Thundering Herd has had a higher (or the same) free throw percentage than the opposition in six consecutive games. The last time it had a longer streak was the final six contests of 2016-17 and first five of last season for 11 straight.

Taking Care of It
Marshall is 10-2 when committing fewer turnovers than the opposition (or as many) and 4-7 when it has more.

500 Field Goals
Senior Shayna Gore finished the 2017-18 season just one bucket short of 500 made for her career. With 2:14 left in the first quarter of the season-opener against Indiana State, Gore hit a three to become the eighth player in program history with 500 made field goals. After hitting two more baskets in the game, Gore moved into seventh all-time passing Sheila Johnson (1987-91). Gore is now third with 649 after the North Texas contest. The senior from Logan, W.Va., is 15 from reaching second all-time as Marshall Athletics Hall of Famer Kristina Behnfeldt (1995-99) has 664. Fellow Hall of Famer Karen Pelphrey (1982-86) is the program's all-time leader with 1,175.

Moving on up the Herd Ranks
Shayna Gore put up a career-best performance with 34 points against Bowling Green and moved into fourth place all-time in Marshall scoring history. Gore surpassed former Herd great Tynikki Crook (2007-11) in the third quarter and finished the game at 1,485 career points. Gore buried six 3-pointers, the third time in her career with six or more, in helping to move ahead of Crook.

Gore continued her move up the scoring column with 24 points in the win over Tennessee State (12/15) to move into third place all-time, passing Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (2002-06). She now has 1,883 points for her career. Next up in second place is another Herd Hall of Famer in Kristina Behnfeldt (1995-99) with 2,117, and whose number hangs in the rafters in the Cam Henderson Center.

Up Next
Marshall hits the road for 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT games at UAB on Thursday and Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall women's basketball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdWBB, Facebook at Marshall University Basketball and on www.herdzone.com.

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Marshall Hosts Conference USA Leader in Saturday Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Khadaijia Brooks

Princess Clemons

Shayna Gore

Kristen Mayo

Taylor Pearson

Taylor Porter

Marshall University Athletics