Feb. 28, 2009
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DALLAS (SMU) - Thanks to a 78-65 win Saturday afternoon over visiting UTEP and a Southern Miss home loss to Memphis, the SMU women's basketball team is the 2008-09 champion of Conference USA.
Junior guard Brittany Gilliam scored a game-high 24 points, and freshman center Christine Elliott posted her second consecutive double-double with 15 points and a team-high 11 rebounds to lead the Mustangs to the victory, which pushed SMU a game ahead of UTEP atop the C-USA standings. The Ponies had to wait a few hours to know if they would share the conference crown with Southern Miss or win it outright; when word arrived that the Golden Eagles had fallen to Memphis in overtime at home, the Mustangs claimed sole possession of the conference crown that earns them the top seed - and the all-important first-round bye - in the Conference USA Championship that starts Thursday in New Orleans.
It was the second time SMU has won at least a partial regular-season championship; the Mustangs also won the 1999-2000 Western Athletic Conference title.
That the Mustangs find themselves heading to New Orleans as the conference champions is somewhat remarkable, considering the 2-5 start to the season for the team that endured an exodus of talent (led by former All-America honorable mention post Janielle Dodds and 2007-08 Defensive Player of the Year Sharee Shepherd) from last year's Conference USA Tournament champion roster that cost the team:
• 560 games played
• 326 games started
• 236 blocked shots
• 793 assists
• 612 steals
• 289 three-pointers
• 2,339 rebounds
• 4,365 points
But after the slow start, the Mustangs got hot at the right time, winning six of their first seven Conference USA games, and five of their last six. Against the Miners Saturday, the Mustangs got contributions from an array of sources. SMU had four players in double figures: in addition to Gilliam's 24 and Elliott's 15, junior guard Jillian Samuels had 19 points and sophomore guard LaShandra Hill added 11. Nine of Samuels' points came on three-of-four shooting from three-point range, raising her season total to 55, the sixth-highest single-season total in SMU history.
The Mustangs trailed at halftime, 41-36, but outscored the Miners, 27-12 coming out of the intermission and never looked back, thanks in large part to an improved defensive effort. UTEP shot nearly 47 percent from the floor in the first half, a number that shrunk to 36.4 percent after the intermission. The Mustang defense was led by Gilliam, who had three steals to raise her team- and conference-high season total to 71 and pestered defending Conference USA Player of the Year Jareica Hughes into a 5-of-17 shooting performance.
The pairings for the Conference USA Championship will be announced this week.
The 2009 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship is set to get underway on March 5-8 in New Orleans. For the past 13 years the league has awarded the championship trophy to eight different outstanding teams. Fans may purchase their tickets in advance by going through the SMU ticket office (214-SMU-GAME) or Tulane Athletics at tulanegreenwave.com or 504-861-WAVE. General admission all-session tickets are $50 for adults and $40 for youth, while single-session prices are $10 for adults and $7 for youth.
