Jan. 27, 2002

Box Score

MEMPHIS, TENN. - The number 13 was hardly unlucky for the Lady Tigers as junior center Shannon Hamp led Memphis past Saint Louis with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Tigers improved to 9-10 overall, 3-3 in Conference USA, with the 77-54 win over the Billikens here at the Pyramid Sunday afternoon.

Hamp led Memphis' efforts with a 6-of-10 shooting mark from the field. She hauled in 11 defensive and two offensive boards in the third double-double of her career. Senior Melissa Abraham recorded her 12th career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Abraham was 5-of-8 from the field, and also totaled two blocks and two steals. This was the first time since last season that two Lady Tigers have recorded a double-double in a single game. The last time was when Tiffany Adkins and Shannon Hamp both totaled double-doubles versus Southern Miss on Jan. 21, 2001.

"This was a great team win for us," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "We had tremendous production from a lot of different people, as five players scored in double figures and I thought our bench gave us a lot of quality minutes."

"I thought at the end of the game when we began to put Saint Louis away, we started to have fun," added McNelis. "We have really struggled throughout the season. We have either gotten blown out or it had been a close game down to the wire. Hopefully this will be something that this team can build on."

Junior college transfer Rita Beckwith came off the bench to score 12 points off a 5-of-9 effort from the field. She hit two treys in her best game so far this season. Beckwith also hauled in three rebounds in just 11 minutes of action. Freshman Victoria Crawford also came off the bench and game Memphis some quality minutes, scoring 13 points and forcing two steals in 21 minutes of action. Crawford was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Princess Swilley also scored in double digits with 10 points off a 4-of-7 effort from the field and a 2-of-2 performance from the free-throw line.

"I was so happy for Rita today," added McNelis. "Rita played the way she is capable of playing. She has really struggled in practice and this past week, she had her first week of good practices since the end of October. She has really elevated her play. She was a huge spark for us off the bench today."

The Lady Tigers took just a three-point lead, 28-25, into the lockerroom at the half after shooting 39 percent from the field and missing four of their five attempts at the free-throw line. Memphis managed to hold SLU to just 24 percent shooting from the field in the half. Memphis returned to the court and dominated the second half. With just over 10 minutes to play in the game, Memphis led 44-40 before taking control with a 20-5 run through the next eight minutes that helped seal the win.

Memphis, which shot 64 percent in the second half, finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field (28-of-56). The Lady Tigers outrebounded Saint Louis, 50-30, after limiting the Billikens to just 10 boards in the second half. SLU shot a season-low 31 percent from the field (20-of-64) and turned the ball over 17 times. Memphis scored 16 points off SLU's 17 turnovers, while the Billikens scored just 16 points off Memphis' 24 giveaways.

Star Jackson led SLU's attempts with eight points. She hit just one bucket from the field, but was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. Stephanie Solomon and Angie Lewis both added seven points apiece for SLU, while Jana Haywood and Shanda Greer both hauled in a team-leading five boards apiece. Saint Louis dropped to 9-10 overall, 3-3 in C-USA, as Memphis continues to lead the series with SLU, 18-1.

The Lady Tigers will continue their three-game home stand next weekend when they host East Carolina on Friday at 7 p.m., and Charlotte on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Both games will be broadcast locally as Time Warner hosts the ECU matchup and WKNO hosts the Charlotte match-up. The weekend is also slated as Alumni Weekend and current WNBA standout LaTonya Johnson is scheduled to play in the alumni game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.