1998-1999 Women's National Invitation Tournament
Joy Lee-McNelis recorded her 5th consecutive 20-win season after guiding her 1998-1999 squad to a 22-10 record and a Final Four showing in the Women's NIT. It was the first time in four years that the Lady Tigers hadn't garnered a C-USA regular-season or tournament championship, but they made up for it in the post season.
Memphis was the only team in C-USA to advance to the second round of a post season tournament. Tamika Whitmore, who became the second-leading scorer at Memphis, also set a new school record with 45 points against Arkansas State in the third round of the WNIT.

Season Record: 22-10
Head Coach: Joye Lee-McNelis
Date Opponent Location W/L Score
  03/11/99   Middle Tenn. State   Memphis W   71-61
  03/14/99   Tennessee-Martin   Memphis W   87-73
  03/17/99   Arkansas State   Memphis W   101-86
  03/20/99   @ Wisconsin   Madison, WI L   73-92



Box Score
Memphis 71, Middle Tennessee State 61
March 11, 1999 - Memphis, TN
WNIT, First Round
MEMPHIS MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Kelly Herron 27 2-7 2-2 8 6 2 6
 Yolanda Reed 29 3-7 4-7 5 7 4 10
 Heather Phillips 14 0-1 0-0 2 1 0 0
 Malissa Bush 28 4-9 2-3 9 0 2 10
 Tamika Whitmore 36 12-18 5-6 13 0 3 29
 Tiffany Collins 28 3-7 4-7 3 2 2 10
 Rachel Bell 3 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0
 Lauren Jackson 19 1-3 0-0 1 1 1 2
 Melissa Abraham 16 2-4 0-1 2 0 2 4
 TOTALS 200 27-56 17-26 49 17 16 71

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Burrell 28 6-12 2-2 3 0 2 14
 Neeley 31 2-13 0-0 4 2 5 5
 Chastain 29 4-10 0-2 7 3 1 9
 Buck 16 2-3 0-0 0 3 2 4
 Elder 29 2-7 6-6 0 2 5 11
 Lufkin 18 3-8 3-4 2 0 4 9
 McClure 8 1-1 1-2 2 2 1 3
 Perkins 4 0-5 0-0 0 0 1 0
 Thomatis 25 2-12 2-3 6 1 3 6
 Conner 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
 Ainsworth 11 0-1 0-0 3 0 0 0
 TOTALS 200 22-72 14-19 34 13 24 61
Halftime: Memphis 34, MTSU 32. 3PT Goals: Memphis 0-5 (Herron 0-4, Jackson 0-1), MTSU 3-15 (Neeley 1-2, Chastain 1-5, Elder 1-4, Lufkin 0-2, Perkins 0-1, Thomatis 0-1). Blocks: Memphis 10 (Abraham 5), MTSU 4 (Buck 2). Steals: Memphis 7 (Reed 3), MTSU 13 (Burrell 4, Elder 4). Attendance: 1,542.



Box Score
Memphis 87, Tennessee-Martin 73
March 14, 1999 - Memphis, TN
WNIT, Second Round
MEMPHIS MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Malissa Bush 25 6-11 1-2 5 1 4 13
 Tamika Whitmore 23 8-13 8-10 3 3 4 25
 Kelly Herron 30 8-13 0-0 6 2 1 18
 Yolanda Reed 29 2-7 4-6 7 6 2 8
 Heather Phillips 18 0-1 2-3 2 4 0 2
 Tiffany Collins 21 1-2 2-2 4 1 2 4
 Rachel Bell 14 1-3 0-0 0 1 2 2
 Monica Blaylock 16 0-0 2-4 4 1 4 2
 Lauren Jackson 8 0-1 3-4 0 1 1 3
 Melissa Abraham 16 2-6 6-6 9 1 4 10
 TOTALS 200 28-57 28-37 42 21 24 87

TENNESSEE-MARTIN MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Harris 21 4-10 4-6 3 4 5 12
 Webb 30 0-8 4-4 9 2 3 4
 Bohannan 22 4-7 3-4 5 2 1 11
 Fields 34 2-14 8-13 3 3 5 13
 Brown 28 1-11 1-2 3 2 2 4
 Wheeler 22 3-6 0-0 2 3 4 9
 Lockridge 15 5-8 2-2 6 0 1 13
 Jones 8 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0
 Williams 0+ 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
 Brinkley 20 3-5 1-4 5 0 2 7
 TOTALS 200 22-70 23-35 42 16 25 73
Halftime: Memphis 40, UTM 30. 3PT Goals: Memphis 3-10 (Whitmore 1-3, Herron 2-3, Reed 0-2, Phillips 0-1, Jackson 0-1), UTM 6-24 (Webb 0-3, Fields 1-7, Brown 1-7, Wheeler 3-6, Lockridge 1-1). Blocks: Memphis 6 (Blaylock 2, Abraham 2), UTM 1 (Harris 1). Steals: Memphis 7 (Herron 2), UTM 8 (Fields 4). Attendance: 1,739.



Box Score
Memphis 101, Arkansas State 86
March 17, 1999 - Memphis, TN
WNIT, Quarterfinals
MEMPHIS MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Kelly Herron 31 3-9 2-3 2 3 1 9
 Malissa Bush 28 7-9 3-6 5 4 2 17
 Tamika Whitmore 37 15-24 13-15 13 4 2 45
 Yolanda Reed 36 3-5 9-11 5 3 4 16
 Heather Phillips 21 0-0 1-2 1 7 1 1
 Tiffany Collins 18 2-4 0-0 2 1 3 4
 Rachel Bell 6 1-2 0-0 0 0 2 2
 Lauren Jackson 7 1-1 0-0 0 1 0 2
 Melissa Abraham 16 1-5 3-5 5 1 4 5
 TOTALS 200 33-59 31-42 35 24 19 101

ARKANSAS STATE MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Hagood 36 5-13 9-10 10 5 3 20
 Johnson 18 6-10 1-1 5 1 5 13
 Chatman 11 1-3 2-2 2 0 5 4
 Evans 38 8-16 1-2 4 2 4 18
 Bradshaw 30 3-12 4-4 7 2 2 13
 Smith 26 4-5 0-0 2 2 0 10
 Rush 20 0-2 0-0 2 3 4 0
 Tackett 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
 Harris 3 0-0 0-2 1 0 2 0
 Davis 3 0-0 0-2 1 0 2 0
 Cottrell 14 3-5 2-4 2 0 5 8
 TOTALS 200 30-66 19-26 36 15 30 86
Halftime: Memphis 45, ASU 45. 3PT Goals: Memphis 4-11 (Herron 1-4, Whitmore 2-5, Reed 1-1, Collins 0-1), ASU 7-17 (Hagood 1-4, Johnson 0-1, Evans 1-3, Bradshaw 3-4, Smith 2-3, Rush 0-2). Blocks: Memphis 1 (Whitmore 1), ASU 2 (Johnson 1, Cottrell 1). Steals: Memphis 10 (Reed 3), ASU 9 (Evans 5). Attendance: 1,948.



Box Score
Wisconsin 92, Memphis 73
March 20, 1999 - Madison, WS
WNIT, Final Four
MEMPHIS MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Malissa Bush 26 7-8 1-3 7 1 2 15
 Tamika Whitmore 28 9-18 2-3 4 0 5 22
 Kelly Herron 25 5-13 0-0 1 3 0 13
 Yolanda Reed 36 3-10 3-4 3 5 3 9
 Heather Phillips 29 0-0 0-0 3 4 2 0
 Tiffany Collins 11 0-1 0-2 1 0 2 0
 Rachel Bell 10 1-2 0-0 1 1 1 3
 Monica Blaylock 13 1-2 0-0 2 1 3 2
 Lauren Jackson 9 1-4 0-0 0 0 2 3
 Melissa Abraham 13 3-7 0-1 2 0 3 6
 TOTALS 200 30-65 6-13 24 15 23 73

WISCONSIN MIN FG-A FT-A REB AST PF TP
 Sims 30 7-16 4-5 4 1 0 20
 Moore 31 7-13 5-5 7 5 3 21
 Stomski 28 10-15 1-2 9 0 3 21
 Paulus 27 3-5 2-2 7 2 2 8
 Pate 32 1-5 5-6 9 13 2 7
 Black 23 2-5 4-5 3 2 0 9
 Cleary 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
 Jirovec 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
 Konieczny 9 1-3 0-0 2 0 2 2
 Wiersma 14 1-4 2-3 0 1 2 4
 TOTALS 200 32-66 23-28 41 24 14 92
Halftime: Wisconsin 49, Memphis 39. 3PT Goals: Memphis 7-16 (Whitmore 2-3, Herron 3-8, Reed 0-1, Bell 1-2, Jackson 1-2), Wisconsin 5-12 (Sims 2-2, Moore 2-4, Paulus 0-1, Pate 0-1, Black 1-4). Attendance: 6,000+.
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