Tuesday, Jan. 1 - Thursday, Jan. 3
Highlights
Tulsa 63, Wichita State 49
Kendrian Elliott came off the bench for a team-high 17 points to lead four players in double-figures in Tulsa's 63-49 victory over Wichita State Friday night in front of 1,009 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Hurricane evened its season record to 7-7 and 1-0 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Shockers are also 7-7 overall.
Crystal Polk and Desiree Lewis had double-doubles, while Alexis Gaulden had a double-digit scoring night. Polk had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Lewis 12 points and 10 boards and Gaulden knocked down 14 points and had a team-high 4 assists.
Elliott scored her 17 points in just 14 minutes, hitting 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Gaulden hit all 3 of Tulsa's three-pointers, as the Hurricane finished the night knocking down just 3-of-20 from three-point range.
After the Shockers jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the game, Tulsa rattled off the next 11 points for an 11-3 lead with 3:16 remaining in the first period. The Shockers closed the gap to 4 points at 15-11 before Elliott's layup at the first quarter buzzer gave the Hurricane a 17-11 lead at the break.
Tulsa increased its lead to 12 points within the first 4 minutes of the second period at 25-13. The Shockers went on a 10-2 run to cut its deficit to 4 points with 2:11 left on the first half clock, but the Hurricane scored the final 5 points of the half.
Gaulden connected on Tulsa's first three-pointer of the game at the 1:12 mark to give the Hurricane a 30-23 lead, while Polk's layup with 0:31 on the clock gave Tulsa its final halftime margin of 9 points, 32-23. Gaulden's trey snapped an 0-9 streak from behind the arc for the Hurricane in the first half, as Tulsa ended the first 20 minutes 1-of-11 from three-point range.
USF 63, Temple 53
USF women's basketball defeated Temple 63-53 in the American Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia behind double-figure scoring from four Bulls.
USF (10-5) jumped out to a 19-11 first-quarter lead, and overcame numerous Owls (4-9) attacks to come away with its first conference victory. Early in the third quarter, USF forced Temple to call a timeout when the Bulls' took a 35-24 lead and held a 18-6 margin in offensive rebounds. The Owls got within four points of the Bulls midway through the fourth quarter, but a string of four Laura Ferreira points and Enna Pehadzic's lone three-pointer of the night lengthened USF's lead to seal its first win of the new year.
Shae Leverett neared a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks. She added one steal and an assist to her impressive stat line. Enna Pehadzic had a career high 13 rebounds to help USF out-perform Temple on the glass 57-40, including a 26-14 offensive rebounding margin. USF is outrebounding opponents by 12.7 on the year.
Harvey paced USF with 19 points, and added six rebounds and three assists. Laura Ferreira had 16 points with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Alyssa Rader had 10 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block.
Tulane 68, ECU 57
American Athletic Conference play began for the Green Wave women's basketball team on Saturday, and Tulane opened league play by showing it will be a force to be reckoned with this year.
Krystal Freeman had her third double-double of the season – which she had already reached at halftime – and the Green Wave dominated ECU 68-57 at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicates.
Tulane (11-3, 1-0 The American) got 17 points and a career-best 20 rebounds from Freeman while pummeling ECU (9-5, 0-1) to the tune of a 55-35 edge rebounding. Freeman's 20 rebounds – she had 10 offensive and 10 defensive boards – were one shy of tying a Tulane record and were the most rebounds in a game for Tulane since Brett Benzio's 20 on March 11, 2011.
Freeman's numbers were far from the only highlights of the game. Sophomore Kaila Anderson tied her career high with nine assists, matching ECU's entire team. In a very balanced scoring game, Sierra Cheatham and Harlyn Wyatt also had double-figure scoring with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Tulane ended the second quarter with an 8-0 run including three baskets from Freeman to take a 41-21 lead into halftime, and the sophomore had a double-double at the break with 15 points and a to-that-point-career-best 12 rebounds.
ECU threatened briefly late in the game, cutting Tulane's lead to as few as 11 points. But the threat was never really serious as Tulane built the lead back up to 17 points before a late final surge by ECU with the game well out of reach.
UCF 68, Memphis 55
A dominant second quarter led the UCF women’s basketball team to a 68-55 win over Memphis on Saturday evening in Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
UCF (12-2, 1-0 The American) outscored Memphis (5-9, 0-1 The American) 27-5 in the second quarter, making 80 percent of its shots from the floor.
The Knights held a slight edge, 9-8, after the first quarter, but turned up the intensity in the second frame. UCF never trailed in the ball game and held a double-digit lead the entire second half. The Black and Gold converted 23 Memphis turnovers into 22 points and scored 40 points in the paint.
Kayla Thigpen poured in 15 of her career-high 20 points in the second half to lead a trio of Knights in double figures. Kay Kay Wright extended her streak to 14 games scoring in double digits, finishing with 15 points and dished out seven assists. Jamesha Paul added 10 points for UCF.
Nyala Shuler pulled down four of her team-high nine rebounds on the offensive end. Brittney Smith collected a career-high two blocks in the win.
UConn 81, Houston 61
Following the first regular season loss in more than four years, UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn't know how his team was going to react.
The Huskies came out with energy en route to a convincing win on Sunday.
Katie Lou Samuelson had 19 points, Napheesa Collier added 18 points and the top-ranked UConn Huskies rebounded from a rare regular-season loss with an 81-61 win over Houston.
Megan Walker had 14 points and seven rebounds, Crystal Dangerfield had 13 points and six assists and Christyn Williams had 12 points for UConn (12-1, 1-0 American), which had its streak of 126 consecutive regular-season wins snapped in a 68-57 loss to No. 8 Baylor on Thursday.
Octavia Barnes had 15 points, Serithia Hawkins added 10 points and Tatyana Hill added nine points for Houston (6-8, 0-1).
UConn started the second quarter on a 13-2 run to open up a 37-23 lead on Samuelson's layup 3½ minutes into the quarter.
Houston scored the next five points to cut the lead to nine on Hill's layup with five minutes remaining, but UConn finished the half with a 14-2 run to take a 51-30 halftime lead on Dangerfield's jumper.
Cincinnati 69, SMU 57
University of Cincinnati women's basketball tipped off American Athletic Conference play Sunday with a 69-57 victory over the visiting SMU Mustangs inside Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats (9-5, 1-0 AAC) controlled the first half, complete with a 15-1 run over the final 5:36 of the second quarter to take command, 41-21, at the break. The Mustangs (6-8, 0-1 AAC) fought back in the second half, but the early Red & Black advantage proved too much to overcome. The win is the Bearcats' fourth in a row and the largest margin of victory in an American opener in their six seasons in the league.
UC's starting five combined to score all of the team's points on the day, led by 22 from sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas – her fourth-straight 20-plus effort. Junior guard Sam Rodgers had a career day with 20 points – 17 of which came in the first half – and five 3-pointers. In addition, junior forward Angel Rizor totaled 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while junior guard Antoinette Miller contributed 12 points, six assists, and a career-best five steals.
After more than two weeks off from competition over the holidays, the Bearcats showed no signs of rust, jumping out to an 11-point lead late in the first quarter. Up 20-11 after one, the Red & Black saw its lead reduced to just six points, 26-20, with 5:43 to go before halftime. UC answered with a 15-0 run – aided by three triples from Rodgers – to jump into the driver's seat.
Armed with a sizable lead, the Bearcats struggled from the field for much of the third quarter, but ended the period strong to take a 55-37 surplus into the final stanza. The Mustangs did not go away lightly, chipping away at their deficit throughout the quarter. UC saw its advantage cut to 12, 63-51, with 1:45 left, but the cushion it built in the previous three quarters allowed it to weather the late storm.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
| TUESDAY |
 |
UCF |
|
 |
USF |
|
 |
7:00 PM |
Tampa, Fla. |
TV:ESPN3 |
 |
Tulane |
|
 |
Temple |
|
|
7:00 PM |
Philadelphia, Pa. |