Wednesday, Nov. 14 - Thursday, Nov. 15
Highlights
ECU 59, Grand Canyon 47
In the best defensive effort of the young season, the ECU women's basketball team topped Grand Canyon 59-47 on Wednesday night in Minges Coliseum.
For the second straight game, ECU (3-0) quickly jumped out to a lead. The Pirates led 10-2 and 16-5 in the early going, with Destiny Campbell shooting 4-of-4 to start the game while Tamia Hicks added six points of her own. By the end of the first quarter though, Grand Canyon cut the margin to just two.
In the first quarter, the Antelopes had their way with the Pirate defense, shooting 61.5 percent from the field and knocking down two of five from behind the arc. But in the second and third quarters, the ECU defense locked in. Grand Canyon scored just six points in the second quarter and did not score for the final 4:37 of the period. In the third quarter, ECU was nearly as good, allowing just nine points while allowing Grand Canyon to shoot just 21.4 percent. The defense made the different, as ECU outscored Grand Canyon 33-32 in the first and fourth quarters and 26-15 in the second and third periods.
Johnson led the Pirates in scoring for the third straight game, as she and Campbell both finished with 12 points. Johnson also finished with a career-high six assists, leading the team in assists for fifth time in her career. Hicks set new career-highs in four categories. The sophomore from Knightdale finished with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting and hauled down seven rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
UCF 78, Stetson 55
The UCF women’s basketball team scored the first five points and never looked back in a 78-55 victory at Stetson in the Edmunds Center on Wednesday evening.
UCF (2-0) outscored Stetson (0-2) by 20 points in the first quarter and held a 44-25 edge heading into halftime. The Hatters made a run in the third quarter, but the Black and Gold kept the game out of reach, pouring in 21 points in the final quarter.
Sydnee McDonald led all scorers with 24 points and was one of three Knights to reach double figures. Kay Kay Wright added 17 and Lawriell Wilson collected seven of her 11 points from the charity stripe. Nyala Shuler pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
McDonald reached double figures and became the first Knight to reach the 20-point mark this season. For the second consecutive game, she hit multiple three-pointers, draining six from behind the arc against the Hatters.
Ole Miss 62, Temple 55
The Temple women's basketball team rallied from a 15-point deficit to tie the game late in the third, but Ole Miss stalled the Owls' comeback bid and finished out a 62-55 victory at home. The Rebels improved to 2-1 on the season, while Temple suffered its first loss of the young season to move to 2-1.
Sophomore Mia Davis poured in a career-best 22 points, pulling down six boards to lead the Owls.
Freshman Marissa Mackins helped Davis key the comeback, scoring 15 points and adding three assists.
Graduate student Alliya Butts had seven points and a team-best four assists, while sophomore Emani Mayo added six points to pace the offense.
Junior Shantay Taylor pulled down six rebounds, while classmate Shannen Atkinson added five.
Tied 2-2, Ole Miss scored 10 unanswered in the first quarter, as part of a 17-2 run, that put the hosts up 19-4. Ole Miss pushed the lead to 13 (38-25) early in the third, but Temple put together a run to make it a game.
Eight points from Davis and five from Mackins, while the Owls held Ole Miss scoreless for over four minutes, tied the game at 38-38. The Rebels responded with a 7-2 run to close the frame leading 45-40.
Ole Miss hit a pair of quick buckets to go up by nine early in the final frame, but again Temple battled back, making it a three point game on a Davis basket with 5:49 on the clock. One final surge did the trick for Ole Miss, as the Rebels pushed the lead back to nine, 57-47, with 2:53 to play.
Louisiana Tech 100, Houston 88
The Houston Cougar Women's Basketball team fell 100-88 in overtime at Louisiana Tech on Wednesday, inside the Thomas Assembly Center, in Ruston, La.
Houston had four players reach double figures in scoring, including team highs of 20 from Serithia Hawkins and Jasmyne Harris. Angela Harris added 13 points, while Alyssa Okoene finished with 11. Jasmyne Harris and Hawkins each paced the Cougars with seven rebounds, while Okoene and Octavia Barnes had six.
Houston shot 60.0 percent from the field in the first quarter, including a 3-for-6 mark from deep. In the frame, Houston forced five turnovers which led to nine points.
Tech surged closer out of the media timeout in the fourth with a bucket and two free throws before Branch pushed the lead back to three with a bucket. After Tech answered on the next possession, Houston got a layup to go from Jasmyne Harris before Kierra Anthony connected on a 3-pointer to tie the game at 78-78 and force a Houston timeout. With 11.5 seconds remaining and the game tied at 80, Louisiana Tech had a clean look at the basket, but the Cougars held and sent the game into overtime.
The teams traded buckets to open the overtime before a 7-0 run for Louisiana Tech, aided by an administrative technical foul on a substitution, gave Louisiana Tech the lead for good.
Wichita State 63, Sam Houston State 55
For the first time since the 2002-03 season, the Wichita State women's basketball team is 3-0. The Shockers claimed a 63-55 victory over Sam Houston State Wednesday night at Charles Koch Arena.
Jaida Hampton led the Shockers with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals, while Carla Bremaud came up with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
The Shockers forced 10 Bearkat first half turnovers, coming up with 11 points off turnovers while shooting 48 percent from the field.
Sam Houston State tied it up at 30 after fast break layup with 6:30 remaining in the third, and another layup giving them their first lead of the game. The Shockers quickly regained the advantage, thanks to a three-point play from Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage.
Going back-and-forth throughout the quarter, Wichita State took a four-point lead off a Hampton jumper and layup from Alyssia Faye. A basket plus the foul just before the quarter ended gave Wichita State a 46-39 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
A 3-pointer from Bremaud and another three-point play from Lozada-Cabbage allowed Wichita State to take a 13-point lead with under eight minutes to play. The Shockers shot 46 percent on the night, scoring 22 points off 23 Sam Houston State turnovers.
USF 88, Bethune-Cookman 39
No. 21 USF women's basketball defeated in-state opponent Bethune-Cookman 88-39 in dominating fashion on Thursday night at the Yuengling Center, outscoring the Wildcats by nearly 50 points.
Laura Ferreira and Kitija Laksa each had a game-high 19 points on the night, while Tamara Henshaw and Beatriz Jordao added 10 points apiece.
USF improved to 3-0 on the season for the third consecutive year, and held its opponents to under-50 for the third consecutve game this season. USF got out to a slow start in the first quarter, only outpacing BCU (2-1) 17-11 in the first 10 minutes. USF turned up the heat with a 23 point second quarter, led by Kitija Laksa with 12 in the quarter. At the break, the Bulls were leading the Wildcats 40-20 foll owing the dominating offensive effort.
The Bulls continued to stampede in the third quarter when they broke out for a 28-point third quarter, the most points USF has scored in a quarter since USF defeated Ohio State in Tampa on Feb. 11, 2018. USF kept the momentum going in the fourth quarter, holding BCU to just nine fourth-quarter points and leading by as much as 50 in the game.
UAB 85, Memphis 54
The University of Memphis women's basketball team dropped an 85-54 decision at UAB Thursday evening. The Tigers fall to 1-2 on the young season.
After a slow start in the first half, Memphis produced a strong, 22-point, third quarter against the Blazers. The Tigers drained three shots from beyond the arc in the third from Jada Stinson, Jasmine James, and Kiana Coomber.
James continued to be a spark for Memphis with a second drained three to start the fourth quarter. Prior to this season, James had not hit a three-pointer for the Tigers and has now hit four in three games.
The Tigers backed up their third quarter performance with a 21-point showing in the fourth.
In the second half, Memphis shot 45.7 percent from the floor with five made three-pointers.
Two Tigers scored in double-figures, led by James' 12 points. Jamirah Shutes finished with 10 points after knocking down a pair of three-pointers in the second half.
Alana Davis finished with a career-high 13 rebounds including eight offensive boards. She added eight points for Memphis.
Tulane 56, LSU 54
Tulane women's basketball turned the program's win counter over to 700 on Thursday night, claiming a 56-54 victory over LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Green Wave (2-0) held a 9-point lead with 3:15 left in the game, but the Tigers (1-1) staged a late comeback to make it a 1-point game with just nine seconds left on the clock.
From there, sophomore Kaila Anderson hit one free throw, and LSU got possession back with one final chance. The Tigers inbounded the ball four times in the final nine seconds but were unable to get off a clean shot with Krystal Freeman getting a key block on a Mercedes Brooks layup with just three seconds remaining.
The ball went out of bounds for one final LSU attempt, but the lob pass to the paint bounced off a Tiger hand and harmlessly onto the floor as the final buzzer sounded.
Tulane is now 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2015-16, and the 700th win in program history came against one of its long-time rivals. Tulane is now 9-31 all-time against the Tigers but has won six of the last nine contests between the sides.
Thursday's victory was a total team effort with six different players recording at least 6 points and only Freeman finishing in double digits with 10. Freshman Erin Gutierrez and junior Kayla Manuirirangi each had 9 points, freshman Mia Heide tallied 8, Anderson added 7 and freshman Dynah Jones had 6.
Alabama 62, SMU 61 (OT)
After using an 11-3 run in the fourth quarter to storm back and tie the game, SMU women's basketball dropped a last-second 62-61 loss in overtime to Alabama on Thursday night at Moody Coliseum.
Senior forward Alicia Froling tied the SMU program record with 38 career double-doubles, tallying a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds. She now shares the record with Shasta Smothers-Johnson (1983-87) and Janielle Dodds (2005-08).
Trailing by as many as 12 points late in the third quarter, the Mustangs (2-1) outscored the Crimson Tide (2-1) 15-8 in the fourth quarter. Freshman guard Kayla White hit a driving lay-up to cut the Alabama lead to 51-47 midway through the period, then hit the game-tying jumper following an Alabama turnover moments later to knot the game at 51-51.
The Mustangs held a 58-55 lead in overtime, but Alabama hit key shots down the stretch to retake the lead.
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