After losing to Memphis 77-54 last Sunday at The Pyramid, the Billikens return home for contests against Charlotte Friday at 7 p.m. and East Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Friday night is Breast Cancer Awareness Night at Bauman-Eberhardt Athletic Center.
“This is a huge weekend for Saint Louis University women’s basketball,” said coach Jill Pizzotti. “It will help to determine the outcome for the rest of the season.”
The contest against Memphis was close throughout the first half. The Lady Tigers never built a lead greater than five points, and the Billikens were able to counter, resulting in seven ties in the first half.
The Billikens took a 23-20 lead with three minutes left but were unable to hold onto it and trailed 28-25 at the half.
SLU shot 8 for 33 from the field but stayed in the game by shooting 8 of 12 from the charity stripe. The Billikens’ defense forced 14 turnovers in the first half and converted them into nine points. The Lady Tigers shot 38 percent from the floor on 12 of 31 shooting.
Junior point guard Star Jackson led SLU with eight points, and junior forward Amie Van Deurzen chipped in five points. Junior forward Jana Haywood pulled down five boards.
The game was close after the intermission, with the score tied at 35 six minutes into the second half. Then the Tigers went on an 18-4 run during the next nine minutes and built a 62-44 lead.
Memphis rolled through the final minutes and won 77-54.
SLU shot 31 percent from the field on the game. Jackson led SLU with eight points.
Sophomore forward Stephanie Solomon added seven points, tying her season best. Even though SLU’s defense forced 24 turnovers, five Tigers notched double-figures in scoring.
The Billikens fell to 3-3 in Conference USA and 10-9 overall and are in seventh place in the conference. The Tigers improved to 3-3 in C-USA and 9-10 overall.
“We executed well defensively in the first half. We did a tremendous job of keeping them off the boards,” Pizzotti said. “We had trouble making shots. With six minutes left, it was a tie game. When we had trouble making shots, it snowballed on us. The score wasn’t indicative of how the game went. To Memphis’ credit, they did a great job of contesting our shots.”
The Billikens face Charlotte on Friday. The 49ers are 10-9 overall and 2-4 in C-USA. Charlotte handed previously-undefeated TCU its first conference loss, 81-67.
Junior forward Alicia Abernathy leads Charlotte with 11.9 points per game and 8.3 boards. St. Louis native, Gateway Tech grad Peaches Harris is second on the squad with 9.3 points. The 49ers are averaging 58.4 points per game.
The East Carolina Pirates come to town on Sunday. It is their first season in the conference and the team is 3-15 overall and 1-5 in the league.
Courtney Willis is averaging 10.1 points a game and Kim Enoch leads ECU in rebounding with 7.6 a game.
ECU is averaging 58.2 points per game.
Gene Hill is serving as ECU’s interim head coach after Dee Stokes resigned on Jan. 21.
“Both teams are playing well now. Charlotte beat TCU and ECU only lost to Houston by one point,” Pizzotti said.
