Saturday, Feb. 20
No. 12/15 USF 78, Tulane 69
Bethy Mununga scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, and No. 12/15 South Florida pulled away from Tulane for a 78-69 victory on Saturday night at the Yuengling Center. The Bulls improve to 13-1 on the year and 11-0* (see above) in the American Athletic Conference, USF's regular-season record equals the best start in program history, joining the 2008-09 and 2016-17 teams. Also, the Bulls' 12-game winning streak marks a program record.
Mununga's double-double was the 18th of her career and her eighth of the season.
Sydni Harvey scored 16 points and Elena Tsineke 13 for South Florida. The Bulls have won three straight following a stretch of seven postponements and one cancellation due to COVID-19 protocols.
Arsula Clark made a pair of free throws to bring the Green Wave within 69-65 with 2:48 left. But Harvey sank a pair of foul shots and Elisa Pinzan and Mununga made layups in consecutive possessions and the Bulls were never threatened again.
Tulane led 21-18 after the first quarter, but Shae Leverett scored three layups in four possessions to start the second and the Bulls never trailed again. After a 30-all tie at intermission, Tsineke sank a 3-pointer and South Florida led the rest of the way.
Jerkaila Jordan scored 29 points for Tulane (14-7, 10-6). Clark scored 20 points and made all 12 of her foul shots. Dynah Jones had 12 points.
Tulane made 26 of 29 foul shots.
UCF 55, Tulsa 53
Courtajia Sanders drove to the basket with just under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, laying in what proved to be the game winner as the UCF women's basketball team held off Tulsa in a 55-53 decision Saturday afternoon in Addition Financial Arena.
UCF (12-2, 10-1 The American) withstood a challenge from Tulsa (5-11, 4-11 The American) to extend its win streak to seven games.
Each time the Golden Hurricane looked to take control of the game, the Knights responded.
The Golden Hurricane jumped out to the early lead, holding a 12-7 advantage after the first quarter. Ahna Burney came off the bench to start the second frame, opening with a 5-0 run by herself to pull the Black and Gold even at 12-12. Tulsa pushed back out to a 20-16 edge with six minutes left in the period, but the Knights outscored the visitors 9-2 down the stretch to take a 25-22 edge into the locker room.
Diamond Battles opened the second half with a steal and a pair of free throws to push UCF's lead to five, 27-22, but the Golden Hurricane hung around. Tulsa evened the score at 29 leading into the media timeout, but the home squad never allowed the visitors to go in front. A basket from Brittney Smith with two seconds remaining put the Knights in front 40-37 heading into the final period.
UCF led by as many as five points midway through the fourth, but hot shooting from Tulsa saw the Golden Hurricane take a 51-49 lead with three minutes remaining. A driving layup from Alisha Lewis pulled the Knights even and then UCF's defense went to work.
Diamond Battles put herself in the passing lane to come up with a steal. She found a streaking Sanders for the layup to put UCF in front, 53-51.
Tulsa knotted the score out of a timeout, giving the Knights the ball back with less than one minute to go. With the shot clock winding down, Sanders turned the corner, driving into the lane for the go-ahead layup.
UCF's defense then applied the pressure, not allowing Tulsa to find the equalizer in the waning seconds.
Alisha Lewis led the Knights with 15 points, dished out five assists and had three steals. Sanders scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter. Brittney Smith posted her second double-double of the season, collecting a career-best 13 rebounds to go along with 10 points. Diamond Battles dished out four assists and Masseny Kaba had a game-high two blocks.
The Knights held the advantage on the glass, out-rebounding Tulsa 36-24. UCF did not allow the Golden Hurricane to score any second chance points.
Houston 75, Cincinnati 66
Dymond Gladney and Miya Crump combineD for 41 points as the Houston Women's Basketball team (13-5, 10-4 American) picked up its fifth straight win on Saturday afternoon inside Fifth Third Arena in a 75-66 decision over Cincinnati (4-14, 3-12 American).
Three Cougars closed out the day in double-figures led by a season-high 23 points Gladney. Crump added 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds, as Tatyana Hill recorded 12 points and seven rebounds.
Houston outscored Cincinnati 50-34 in the paint. On the defensive end, UH racked up 11 steals for its 11th game this season with 10 or more steals. The Cougars have now won five consecutive conference games, the most since the Cougars joined The American.
Houston got out to a strong start defensively, taking a 9-7 lead by the time the first media timeout rolled around. The Cougars turned Cincinnati over seven times, picking up five steals including back-to-back steals on the first two Bearcat possessions. The Cougars held Cincinnati scoreless for the final three minutes of the frame, to take a 15-12 lead at the break.
Crump knocked down a three-pointer in the opening possession of the second quarter, before UC embarked on a 6-0 run to get back within one. Gladney countered with a triple of her own to keep UH on top. Gladney and Crump ignited the Cougar offense combining for 18 of the Cougars 24 second quarter points. Houston headed into the second quarter media timeout on a 13-1 scoring run behind back-to-back three-pointers from Gladney to force a Cincinnati timeout with 5:45 on the clock. The Bearcats caught fire down the stretch hitting seven of their final nine shots to get within four as both teams headed into their locker rooms at the half.
For the second straight frame, Crump knocked down a three-pointer to get things going for UH. Laila Blair found a rhythm in the paint, taking control of the driving lanes for four early points as Houston led 51-39 at the halfway point of the quarter. The Houston lead ballooned to 17 points after Bria Patterson and Britney Onyeje scored on back-to-back possessions to force a Cincinnati timeout.
Cincinnati made early shots in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, outscoring Houston 7-2 from the field. Hill and Blair remained aggressive in the paint, as Hill became the third Cougar to reach double-figures following a no-look assist from Crump. The Houston lead was too much for the Bearcats to overcome, as the Cougars picked up their fifth straight win.
East Carolina 74, Wichita State 59
A dominant second-half performance helped the ECU women's basketball team race to a 74-59 win over visiting Wichita State on Saturday afternoon.
ECU improves to 7-11 on the season and 5-8 in AAC play. The Pirates were led in scoring by Lashonda Monk who finished with 18 points, shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc, to go with five steals. Taniyah Thompson added 16 points of her own and tied her career-high with four steals. Sierra DaCosta was the third Pirate in double-figures, scoring 10 points. ECU played 10 players on the day and every single one of them scored at least one point.
If someone just looked at the first-half shooting numbers, Wichita State appeared to have the edge. The Shockers shot 45.8% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while ECU went into the halftime locker room shooting just 24.2%. Asia Strong did most of the damage for the Shockers, scoring 14 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting. However, the Pirate defense kept ECU in the game as the Pirates forced 16 first half turnovers which turned into nine ECU points. That defensive effort was a major reason the game was tied at 26 at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, ECU's defensive pressure ratched up another notch while the offense also came alive, mainly thanks to Thompson and Monk. The Pirates opened the second half on a 9-2 run, behind three points from Monk and four from Thompson. The run was momentarily stopped by a Strong layup, but the Pirates answered with an 8-0 run to push the lead to 43-30.
The backbreaker came soon after that. After a Wichita State layup ended the previous run, Monk raced down and splashed in a triple on the fastbreak. A minute later, Thompson cashed in a three-pointer of her own to push the lead to 17. Monk capped off the quarter with her third three-pointer of the period to make it 56-37 heading into the fourth quarter. In all, Thompson and Monk combined to scored 24 of ECU's 30 points in the frame while the Pirate defense forced 11 more Wichita State turnovers and held the Shockers to just 11 points.
In the fourth, ECU had an answer for every Wichita State bucket. The Pirates never allowed the Shockers to get closer than 14 points, with Dominique Claytor scoring six points in the quarter.
ECU finished the game shooting 36.4% from the floor and 40.9% from beyond the arc. The Pirates also did a good job of getting to the free throw line, shooting 17-of-22 from the charity stripe. Wichita State held a 38-33 edge on the boards, but the Pirates forced 34 Shocker turnovers compared to just 16 miscues for ECU. Those 34 turnovers are the most for an ECU opponent since the Pirates forced 34 in a win over Tulane on Feb. 29, 2020.
The Pirates bench also outscored Wichita State's reserves 23-13 behind nine points from Synia Johnson and seven from Alexsia Rose. Johnson set a new career-high by handing out six assists as well.