Sunday, Dec. 29
Highlights
Georgia 67, ECU 50
The non-conference portion of the schedule came to an end for the ECU women's basketball team as the Pirates fell to Georgia 67-50 on Sunday afternoon inside Stegeman Coliseum.
Lashonda Monk led ECU with 16 points, including 14 in the first half. Necole Hope also reached double-figures, finishing with 12 points. Dominique Claytor paced the Pirates on the boards, finishing with 10 rebounds as well as a pair of assists. Monk finished with four of ECU's 11 steals.
After ECU scored the game's opening two points, the Bulldogs scored the next 12 points to take a 12-2 lead. Monk single-handedly dragged ECU back into the game, as her three-pointer ended the Georgia run and she followed it with consecutive layups. Georgia answered with four straight points to push the lead to 16-9, but consecutive field goals from Hope and Monk followed by a free throw by Taniyah Thompson made the score 16-14. The Bulldogs scored the final three points of the first quarter to make it 19-14 at the end of one.
In the second quarter, Georgia was able to get to the free throw line to extend its lead. The Bulldogs shot 9-of-11 (.818) in the frame and outscored ECU 20-14.
Coming out of the locker room though, Georgia used an early run to take a commanding lead. After Claytor scored the opening basket of the second half, the Bulldogs scored the next 11 points before Ryann Evans made a layup to stop the run. ECU was outscored 14-7 in the third quarter and trailed 53-35 after three quarters.
Hope kept the ECU offense afloat in the fourth quarter, scoring seven points and adding an assist. However, it was not enough as the Pirates never got closer than 17 points.
SMU 59, UC Irvine 56
Paige Bayliss' putback in the final seconds pushed SMU past UC Irvine, 59-56, on Sunday afternoon inside Moody Coliseum.
In a tie game with 17 seconds remaining, Bayliss pulled down an offensive rebound over the crowd for her 10th of the game. The sophomore center went right back up for the score to give SMU a 58-56 lead.The SMU defense held the Anteaters scoreless on their final two possessions for the victory. Bayliss recorded her first career double-double with a team-best 14 points lead SMU to its sixth win of the season, improving to 5-3 at home.
Both teams traded buckets in the third with the Anteaters coming out with a three-point advantage heading into the final frame.
After UCI stretched the lead to eight, the Mustangs roared back tying the game at 53 with four minutes remaining as Paige Bayliss knotted the game with a bucket. After UCI pushed it back to three, Bradley converted a huge and-one to tie the game with 1:28 to play.
After Bayliss hit the go-ahead bucket, the Mustangs forced a stop. With Irvine forced to foul, Bradley knocked down a free throw to push the lead to three with just five seconds remaining.
Johnasia Cash recorded her sixth double-double of the season with a 12-point, 13-rebound performance. Cash added three steals and two blocks to her stat line. Bradley finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Houston 54, Hofstra 44
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team will compete for the Championship title at the Fordham Holiday Classic after defeating Hofstra 54-44 on Sunday afternoon inside the Rose Hill Gymnasium.
Tomorrow's championships game will tip-off at 2 p.m. CT and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Dymond Gladney led Houston with a career-high 19 points, while Tatyana Hill posted a 13-point, 15-rebound double-double.
Houston got out to hot start on the defensive end, forcing three early Hofstra turnovers. Dorian Branch hit a three-pointer to get the Cougars started offensively as a pair of buckets from freshman Bria Patterson would give Houston an 8-2 lead at the first media timeout. Dymond Gladney would heat things up in The Bronx with back-to-back three-pointers as Houston closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run, holding Hofstra scoreless for over two minutes to take a 17-5 lead at the break.
Gladney would continue to put Hofstra on notice, scoring the first points of the second quarter. Houston would extend its run to 12 points as the Cougars took a 23-5 lead, holding Hofstra scoreless for over four minutes. A lay-up from Patterson would snap a 6-0 scoring from the Pride and help Houston embark on a run of its own. Tatyana Hill would hit three of her last four shots down the stretch to help the Cougars take a 31-17 lead at the break.
Hill found her rhythm again in the fourth quarter, scoring on back-to-back possessions to start the frame. Rebounding would prove to be the difference maker in the game as the Cougars would out rebound Hofstra on the offensive glass 6-1 in the fourth quarter. Houston would hold Hofstra scoreless for over two minutes down the stretch.
Tulsa 58, UTEP 51
Kendrian Elliott and Maddie Bittle both scored in double figures to lead Tulsa to a 58-51 win over UTEP in the final non-conference game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. The Golden Hurricane moved to 5-8 on the season, while the Miners fell to 7-4 overall.
Elliott had her 12th career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, leading TU in both categories, while Bittle added 10 points, Alexis Gaulden posted eight and Desiree Lewis had seven. Elliott also recorded four blocks, while Gaulden and Morgan Brady both had four steals.
Solid defense kept the game close as TU was trailing UTEP, 6-2, at the 4:51 mark of the first quarter. Tulsa was 1-of-8 from the field, but forced four turnovers in the first five minutes. At the end of the frame, Tulsa trailed UTEP, 13-10, as TU shot 20-percent compared to the Miners' 45-percent. TU forced 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes.
The Miners were up by five points three times in the second quarter, including a 20-15 lead at the 6:03 mark, but a three-pointer by Kayla Moutry and a layup by Desiree Lewis tied the score at 20-20 with 2:38 to play in the frame. TU outscored UTEP, 8-4, to complete their 13-4 run and close out the quarter with a 28-24 advantage.
Neither team got more than one basket ahead in the first five minutes of the final frame, and there was a tied score of 46-46 at the 5:19 mark. KK Rodriguez hit a big three at the 4:03 mark, and then a pair of free throws made by Bittle put TU up 51-46 with 2:45 to play.
A pair of made free throws by Gallegos pulled the Miners to within three at the 2:06 mark, but a made jumper by Gaulden put TU back up by five, 53-48, with 1:21 remaining in the contest. Rodriguez and Brady were both 1-of-2 from the line in the final minute for a 55-48 score, but then Katarina Zec scored on a jumper with 22-seconds remaining for a 55-51 score. Gaulden was then 1-of-2 from the line and Bittle was 2-of-2 for the final 58-51 score. Eight of TU's 17 points in the final frame came from the free throw line.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
