Tuesday, Jan. 8
Highlights
UCF 62, USF 49
A victory and three War on I-4 points were picked up by the UCF women’s basketball team on Tuesday evening. The Knights defeated South Florida 62-49 in the Yuengling Center.
UCF (13-2, 2-0 The American) handed USF (10-6, 1-1 The American) its first home loss of the season, while picking up just the second victory in Tampa in program history.
The Knights fell behind 7-3 less than three minutes into the game, but a four-point spurt from Kay Kay Wright pulled the Knights even at 7-7 with 5:30 left in the first quarter. The Bulls reclaimed the lead, but a 9-0 run from the Black and Gold put them in front 16-10 with just over a minute left in the frame. The Knights held an 18-15 advantage after the first quarter.
Neither team was able to find an offensive rhythm in the second quarter and the Knights took a 29-28 lead into the locker room.
UCF outscored the Bulls 9-2 to open the third quarter and led by as many as eight points on two occasions in the frame. The Knights took a 43-40 edge into the final 10 minutes of play.
Defense was key for the Black in Gold in the final quarter. UCF held South Florida to just nine points and forced the Bulls into five turnovers. The Knights were also aggressive offensively, going to the line 15 times and getting 11 of their 19 points in the quarter at the charity stripe.
Kay Kay Wright registered her sixth 20-point outing of the season, leading all scorers with 20 points. Kayla Thigpen added 13 and collected five of her nine fourth quarter points at the free throw line. Diamond Battles turned in a career performance, scoring 10 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Nyala Shuler also pulled down eight boards for the Knights.
Tulane 66, Temple 57
After being locked in a defensive struggle through 25 minutes, the Green Wave offense finally broke out of its rut.
Leading Temple by just 4 points midway through the third quarter at McGonigle Hall on Tuesday night, Tulane women's basketball closed the period on a 15-0 run that spurred the team to a 66-57 victory.
Before its run, Tulane (12-3, 2-0 American Athletic Conference) was ahead just 38-34 over Temple (4-10, 0-2) with both teams turning the ball over and shooting poorly. But after the third quarter media timeout, the game belonged to the Wave.
Sierra Cheatham hit a 3-pointer with 3:40 left in the third, and Tatyana Lofton followed that with a 3-pointer of her own 17 seconds later. That gave Tulane a 44-34 lead – its first double-digit lead of the game – and forced a Temple timeout.
But after the timeout, Lofton scored 2 more points on free throws, Krystal Freeman hit a jumper and a free throw, Lofton added another layup and Kaila Anderson made two free throws. In just under four minutes, Tulane turned a 38-34 lead into a 53-34 lead at the end of the quarter.
Temple fought hard to get back into the game in the fourth, but the Green Wave built its lead as large as 21 points before the Owls started hitting 3-pointers. Temple made four 3-pointers in the final seven minutes, but the game was already out of reach. Temple shot just 20.7 percent from 3-point range, making 6 of 29 attempts.
Topping the Green Wave in scoring was two-time-defending American Athletic Conference Player of the Week Krystal Freeman. She put 15 points on the board and added three rebounds and two assists on Tulane's first two made baskets of the game.
Also scoring in double figures were Lofton, Cheatham and Anderson with 11, 10 and 10 points, respectively. All 11 of Lofton's points came after the midway point of the third quarter as she was a huge spark in the Green Wave's 15-point run.
UConn 82, Cincinnati 38
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as No. 3 UConn routed Cincinnati 82-38 on Wednesday night to remain unbeaten in league play since the formation of the American Athletic Conference.
Crystal Dangerfield added 11 points and 10 assists for the Huskies (13-1, 2-0 American). Freshman Christyn Williams scored 15 of her 19 points in the first half for UConn and Napheesa Collier added 14 points and nine rebounds.
Antoinette Miller scored 16 points for Cincinnati (9-6, 1-1), which lost for the first time in five games. Iimar'i Thomas, who had scored at least 20 points in each of her previous four games, was held to just nine.
The Huskies jumped on the Bearcats early. A 3-pointer from Williams less than five minutes into the game capped a 17-0 start for the Huskies. The freshman had 10 points in the quarter and hit six of her first seven shots from the floor.
Dangerfield's 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead at 39-9 and they were up 49-19 at halftime.
ECU 78, Wichita State 56
In one of its most dominant efforts of the season, the ECU women's basketball team snapped its three-game losing streak with a 78-56 win over Wichita State on Wednesday night inside Minges Coliseum.
ECU (10-5, 1-1 AAC) were led in scoring by Lashonda Monk and Alex Frazier. Monk finished with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting and shot a career-best 4-of-9 from behind the three-point arc. Monk also added five steals and four rebounds. Frazier tallied a career-high 17 points on an efficient 8-of-14 from the floor and had four assists as well.
The Pirates led Wichita State (7-8, 0-2 AAC) wire-to-wire mainly thanks to their defense. ECU scored the game's first seven points, all of which came before Wichita State even attempted a shot. ECU opened the game with a three-pointer from Monk and then a Raven Johnson steal led to a Monk layup. After another Wichita State turnover, Destiny Campbell was fouled and hit both free throws.
The third quarter was the difference as ECU played its best period of the season. Monk came out of the locker room firing, hitting threes on consecutive possessions. The two teams traded baskets until the final two minutes of the quarter. With ECU leading 46-33, the Pirates went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter. The Pirate run was fueled by layups, with Corbin, Salita Greene and Justice Gee all getting to the bucket while Ariyana Williams made a pair of layups. In the quarter, ECU shot 11-of-20 (.550) from the field and 3-of-6 (.500) from three. The Pirates outscored Wichita State 30-12 in the frame, the highest scoring period for ECU this season.
For Wichita State, Carla Bremaud was the only Shocker in double figures, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-14 (.500) shooting and 4-of-8 (.500) from behind the three-point arc. Wichita State forced 25 ECU turnovers, a season-high for the Pirates.
With the win, acting head coach Nicole Mealing earns the first win of her career. It also marks the first time that ECU has started 1-1 in the AAC, after starting 0-2 during its first four seasons in the conference.
Tulsa 46, Memphis 39
Tulsa overcame a 16-point 3rd quarter deficit to move to 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference Wednesday night with a 46-39 victory over the Memphis Tigers in front of 918 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Alexis Gaulden's driving layup with under four minutes to play in the game gave Tulsa its first lead, beginning the final stretch where the Hurricane scored 11 points in that span for the victory.
Tulsa (8-7, 2-0 AAC) had three double-figure scorers with Crystal Polk leading the way with 11 points, followed by 10 each by Desiree Lewis and Gaulden. Lewis also had a team-high 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double game.
Memphis (5-10, 0-2 AAC) was led by Jamirah Shutes' game-high 13 points.
Tulsa's 2-0 league start is the first time the Hurricane has won its first two conference games since the 2015-16 campaign.
Memphis led 28-12 at halftime and increased its lead to 16 points, 30-14, with less than two minutes gone in the third quarter. Tulsa whittled the lead down, cutting the margin to 7 points at 33-26 by the end of the period.
In the quarter, Tulsa outscored the Tigers 14-5 as the Hurricane scored 2 points more in that 10-minute stretch than they scored for the entire first half. Tulsa began the final quarter scoring the first 4 points and cutting its deficit to 3 points at 33-30 with 6:39 remaining in the contest.
Maddie Bittle's 2 free throws at the 4:50 mark tied the game at 35, while Gaulden's layup with 3:31 to play gave the Hurricane its first lead at 37-35. Polk added 2 more freebies for a 4-point lead and Bittle's 3-pointer, only the second of the game for the Hurricane, put the home team ahead by 5 points at 42-37.
Tulsa increased the lead to 7 points at 44-37 and held on for the final 7-point margin.
Houston 72, SMU 61
The Houston Cougar Women's Basketball team picked up its first American Athletic Conference win of the season with a 72-61 victory over SMU on Wednesday inside Moody Coliseum in Dallas.
Houston had four players reach double-figures in scoring including Dorian Branch and Octavia Barnes, who each matched their career highs. Branch finished with a game-high 20 points, while Barnes added 15 for the second-consecutive game. Serithia Hawkins and Myyah West finished with 12 points apiece, with West's total matching her season-high. Serithia Hawkins led the Cougars on the glass with eight rebounds.
The Mustangs had a pair of players reach double-figures including Alicia Froling's team-high 16 points. Johnasia Cash added 14 points and completed the double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds.
Houston blew the game wide open in the third quarter, using a 12-2 run over the opening minutes of the frame. Barnes opened the half with a triple, and after a Mustang bucket, Branch knocked down another 3-pointer and West added five-straight points to give Houston a 42-27 advantage.
The Cougars pushed the lead to 16 on another 3-ball from Branch two possessions later, but SMU worked the lead back down to 10 with a 12-6 spurt to end the quarter. Johnasia Cash and Alicia Froling added six and four points, respectively, in the run.
SMU had one final push in the fourth quarter, which they opened by holding the Cougars scoreless for the first 3:27 of the frame. In that span, SMU cut the lead to four with a 6-0 run to start the quarter. Cash added six more points in the spurt and finished the contest with 14.
The Cougars pushed the lead back to nine with a pair of free throws from Hawkins and Angela Harris' first bucket of the game from deep. SMU had one final push, scoring the next five points to cut the lead back to four at 56-52, but the Mustangs would not pull any closer, and the Cougars scored on eight of their final 10 possessions to take the contest 72-61.
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