Wednesday, November 17
UCF 59, Virginia 38
The UCF women's basketball team turned in its most complete game of the season on Wednesday, topping Virginia 59-38 in John Paul Jones Arena.
UCF (2-1) shot a season-best 44.7 percent from the field and held Virginia (0-3) to a pair of single digit quarters – limiting the Cavaliers to just five points in the third frame.
The Black and Gold showcased a balanced offense as nine Knights scored and three – Tay Sanders, Brittney Smith and Alisha Lewis – finished in double figures.
The Cavaliers scored first, but the Knights responded with a 6-2 spurt to go in front, 6-5, with 7:01 left in the opening frame. Once UCF took the lead, it never relinquished it. The Knights ballooned their five-point advantage at the end of the first quarter to 17 points, 34-17, with just over a minute remaining in the first half.
Virginia scored eight unanswered to open the fourth quarter, but UCF regrouped to close out the contest.
UCF scored 24 points off 22 Virginia turnovers. The Knights held a 39-23 rebounding advantage and scored 19 fast break points.
Tay Sanders led the way with 15 points, shooting 60 percent (6-10) from the floor. Alisha Lewis added a season-high 11 points and collected a season-high five steals. Brittney Smith registered her first double-double of the season, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.
UT Arlington 69, Houston 66 (OT)
Despite pushing the game to overtime, the Houston women's basketball fell to UT Arlington 69-66, on Wednesday night at the College Park Center.
Tiara Young recorded a season-high 15 points to led the Cougars. Laila Blair closely followed with 14 while also adding a career-high nine rebounds and contributing two steals.
A defensive battle in the first quarter set the pace for the game as the first points weren't scored until the 8:30 mark. Houston fought from behind shrinking the Mavericks lead to closing the quarter at 15-8.
The Cougars found their scoring groove in the second quarter quickly going on an 8-2 run bring the game within one at 17-16. Houston closed out the quarter with 13 unanswered points to take the lead 38-23 going into halftime.
UT Arlington opened the second half with a rolling offense quickly decreasing Houston's lead. Eight straight points from the Mavericks brought the game within one. Two Houston free throws gave the Cougars a three-point lead but a trey from UTA tied the game at 47-all to close out the third quarter.
The two teams battled back and forth in the fourth quarter. Young's five straight points gave Houston breathing room, but it was quickly shortchanged by an Arlington 5-0 run. The Cougars took a two-point lead with 42 seconds left on a Young jumper. However, a Houston foul sent the Mavericks to the charity line and regulation time expired with the game tied at 61-61.
Blair opened overtime with a 3-pointer, but it was quickly matched with another 5-0 run from UT Arlington. Tatyana Hill tied the game at 66-all with a jumper but Houston was held scoreless for the rest of the period and UTA took the three-point win, 69-66.
SMU 81, Oral Roberts 44
Savannah Wilkinson posted her NCAA-leading third double-double of the season and Paige Bayliss recorded the third of her career to lead the SMU women's basketball team to an 81-44 win against Oral Roberts in Moody Coliseum Tuesday night.
Wilkinson finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Bayliss grabbed her 10th rebound on the final shot of the game to go with 12 points. Kayla White scored a season-high 15 points to lead all scorers, and Reagan Bradley finished with five assists.
The Mustangs (2-1) held Oral Roberts (0-3) to eight points in the first quarter, giving up six points at the free-throw line while the Golden Eagles were limited to 1-for-11 from the field. On the other end of the floor, SMU shot 52.4 percent to take a 29-8 lead into the break after the first 10 minutes.
By halftime, the SMU lead was 52-20 as the Mustangs stayed hot, shooting 52.9 percent with nine field goals and five free throws. Keni Jo Lippe led the Golden Eagles with 11 points, but was the only Oral Roberts player to finish with more than six points.
SMU totaled 10 blocks as a team with Wilkinson accounting for four on her own. The Mustangs also outrebounded Oral Roberts, 48-39, including 35 defensive rebounds on 46 missed shots by the Golden Eagles.
Amber Bacon scored seven points, making five free throws in eight attempts, and White went 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. Sydne Wiggins also score seven points, going 2-for-3 from the field, 1-for-2 outside the arc and 2-for-2 on free throws.
St. John's 76, Temple 67
The Temple women's basketball team (1-2, 0-0) dropped the first of three straight home games on Wednesday night, falling to St. John's (2-1,0-0), 76-67. After leading by three points going into the fourth quarter, an 11-6 run for the Red Storm eliminated the lead and saw Temple trailing 64-62 early in the final frame. From there, the Owls could not get back in the game, giving up a 10-0 run to end the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach.
Senior Mia Davis led the Owls with 25 points, 17 of those coming in the first half. She added 15 rebounds to give her a double-double. Alexa Williamson followed closely behind her with 19 points of her own. Jiselle Thomas added 11 points and 5 assists.
Tulsa 79, Florida A&M 54
Six players scored in double figures to lead Tulsa to a 79-54 win over Florida A&M on Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane moved to 3-0 on the season, while the Rattlers fell to 0-2 overall.
This is Tulsa's first 3-0 start since beginning the 2004-05 season with a 7-0 mark.
"I am so excited for the start for this team," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "Our players have worked extremely hard in the off season and in the fall, and to be able to step on the floor and play another team and find success is huge. It is great building our confidence and it is a huge momentum builder going into next week's games."
Madi Washington came off the bench and had a team-best 14 points, while Maya Mayberry and Rebecca Lescay each added 13, Temira Poindexter posted 11, and Jessika Evans and Wyvette Mayberry both had 10 points. Maddie Bittle and Poindexter both had a team-high six rebounds, while Lescay had six assists, and Maya Mayberry had five steals.
"We definitely had balanced offense on our team and I loved that and I loved our bench production," Nelp said. "It is a total team effort. The scoring was really balanced and we had 19 assists so it is always awesome when you play as a team, you share the ball and everyone found their success."
Tulsa shot a solid 49-percent from the field, including 52-percent from behind the arc, and hit 12-of-15 free throw attempts for 80-percent, while Florida A&M shot 32-percent from the field, 38-percent from three-point range and 73-percent from the line.
This was the first time this season that TU outrebounded their opponent with a 37-34 edge, while also owning a 19-13 lead in assists, an 11-5 advantage in steals and a 2-1 edge in blocks.
It took 2:16 off the clock before Maya Mayberry hit a three-pointer to put the Golden Hurricane on the board, but then TU climbed to a 9-0 lead at the 5:30 mark. Dylan Horton scored the Rattlers' first field goal of the contest with 2:28 left in the frame to trail 12-3, and Tulsa owned a 19-5 advantage at the end of the quarter. TU hit 50-percent of their field goal attempts, while FAMU was just 2-of-11 for 18-percent in the first 10 minutes.
The Golden Hurricane inched ahead to a 21-point halftime lead, 34-13, as they shot 40-percent from the field and held the Rattlers to just 16.7-percent in the second quarter.
Tulsa owned a 29-point advantage, 47-18, at the 5:35 mark of the third quarter, but Florida A&M went on a 14-4 run to cut their deficit to 19 with just 33 seconds in the frame and trailed by 21 (53-32) with one quarter to play.
A three-pointer and two made free throws pulled the Rattlers to within 16 (53-37) at the 8:43 mark of the final quarter, but Tulsa earned a game-high 30-point lead (79-49) with just 2:12 remaining in the contest. FAMU scored the last five points of the contest to give Tulsa the 25-point victory.
Florida A&M was led by Malerie Brooks with 16 points, while Dylan Horton posted 15. Anisah Douglas had nine rebounds and Jamaryn Blair had five assists.