PonyFans.com

Mustangs Knock Off Marshall 67-50 For 10th Straight Win
Mays scored 17; Simpson posted her fifth double-double with 15 and 11

Feb. 10, 2013

DALLAS (SMU) - The Mustangs went on a 17-5 run, including 13 unanswered points over almost 10 minutes in the second half on the way to a 67-50 victory over Marshall for the 10th straight win, the second longest streak in program history. Keena Mays led the way with 17 points, going 4-for-8 from 3-point range. SMU remained unbeaten in Conference USA with the win, improving to 9-0 in the league and 18-4 overall.

The junior transfer also had five rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block, and Akil Simpson recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, making six of 10 attempts from the floor. She also had three assists, two blocks and a steal in front of the third largest crowd in Moody Coliseum this year, aided by a few hundred student-athletes who showed up for SAAC's Pack the House.

SMU got off to a slow start, scoring just seven points in the first 8:59, but then Mays hit 3's on back-to-back possessions to tie the game 13-13 with 10:29 left in the first half. Kristin Askew nailed a 3 on the next possession, giving the Mustangs a 16-13 lead, and SMU never trailed again. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the lead was eight, 31-23.

Marshall (7-15, 1-8 C-USA) scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half to cut the lead to two, 33-31 with 14:52 left, but SMU held the Thundering Herd to just five points over the next 9:48 to take a 60-36 lead. The run included a 13-0 scoring spree by the Mustangs over a four-minute stretch.

The Mustangs shot 40 percent for the game, making 24 of 60 shots, including seven of 16 from 3-point range, 43.8 percent. Marshall connected on 19 of 64 attempts, 29.7 percent, and made just four of 22 3-point attempts, 18.2 percent. SMU forced the Thundering Herd into 15 turnovers with 10 steals, scoring 18 points off turnovers. Marshall is the seventh team SMU has held to 50 or fewer points this season.

SMU starts a two-game road trip at East Carolina Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. The Mustangs play at Memphis Sunday at 2 p.m. before returning to Moody Coliseum on Feb. 21 to host Tulsa.

At 18-4 you'd think they would let Rhonda use the snazzy smu backdrop when she does postgame interviews

RGV Pony wrote:At 18-4 you'd think they would let Rhonda use the snazzy smu backdrop when she does postgame interviews

The interview room is only open for men's games? Or does she just prefer to talk there?

5 votes in the AP now.

3 games up in cusa standings.

Wonder why we are not doing better in the AP Poll? Maybe because of some of our losses before Mays this year. Have we lost a game with Mays in the line-up?

AusTxPony wrote:Wonder why we are not doing better in the AP Poll? Maybe because of some of our losses before Mays this year. Have we lost a game with Mays in the line-up?

The TCU and UALR losses look pretty bad based on their conference positions. CUSA is also perceived as weak in women's BB so there is very little respect for winning our conference games. Only 4 teams are in the RPI top 125, and nobody in the top 50.

MustangStealth wrote:

AusTxPony wrote:Wonder why we are not doing better in the AP Poll? Maybe because of some of our losses before Mays this year. Have we lost a game with Mays in the line-up?

The TCU and UALR losses look pretty bad based on their conference positions. CUSA is also perceived as weak in women's BB so there is very little respect for winning our conference games. Only 4 teams are in the RPI top 125, and nobody in the top 50.

I agree re: TCU but how is UALR such a bad loss? They are 8-6 (16-7 overall) in the Sun Belt. Not great but good enough for 2nd place in their division.

By RPI, the two "good" OOC wins are Harvard and Montana State. MSU slid to the middle of the Big Sky standings so the value of that win decreases every day (unless they get hot in their conference tournament) However Harvard is in 2nd place in the Ivy League (1 game back of Princeton) and has two games remaining with the Tigers. Harvard winning the Ivy will bolster SMU's profile. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-bas ... /standings

CA Mustang wrote:I agree re: TCU but how is UALR such a bad loss? They are 8-6 (16-7 overall) in the Sun Belt. Not great but good enough for 2nd place in their division.

If you look at the Sun Belt as a whole, they are basically 5th place in the Sun Belt, which is only the 12th best conference. Based on their remaining schedule, there is a good shot they end up outside the RPI top 100, which is one of those things that the selection committee will ding you for, especially since we lost to them at home.

Those losses were both pre-Mays Craze. I guess computers don't take such things into account, but the pollsters should. East Carolina and Memphis on the road will be tough to get through, however, so we might never break into the Top 25.