Monday, March 21
No. 2 UConn 52, No. 7 UCF 47
A historic UCF women's basketball season came to a close on Monday evening as the Knights dropped a 52-47 decision to No. 5 UConn in the second round of NCAA Tournament in Gampel Pavilion.
"Our team is amazing.," UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. "We accomplished so many goals. We set out at the beginning of the year to win a lot of our preseason games. We really scheduled high-level teams and we accomplished a lot of those goals that we set out in our preseason. These young women are special. They are special. What we did for this season and what these young women did every single day, I can't even tell you -- I don't even know how basketball coaches, if you're not a basketball coach you don't understand how hard that was to accomplish what we did for this season."
UCF finished its season with a 26-4 overall record, matching the program record for most wins in a season while also setting the record for the fewest losses.
UConn (27-5) and the Knights traded baskets early before a 7-0 run from the Black and Gold put the visitors up 11-4 in the first quarter. UCF led by as many as eight, 17-9, in the opening period and took an 18-12 lead into the second period.
The Huskies opened the second quarter sinking seven free throws in a 7-2 scoring spurt to pull within one, 20-19, heading into the media timeout. After a three-pointer put UConn in front, Diamond Battles responded with a clutch three of her own to put the Knights back on top, 23-22. UConn scored four unanswered to take a 26-23 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair until the Huskies closed out on a 9-0 run to take a 38-30 lead into the final period. UConn pushed its lead to as many as 12, 48-36, with 4:52 remaining, and looked to be pulling away.
But, as they've done all season, the Knights showed fight.
A jumper from Brittney Smith was followed by a three-pointer from Tay Sanders in a 5-0 spurt. Masseny Kaba came up with a clutch block on the defensive end and then found Smith for a jumper to pull UCF within five, 48-43, with 3:04 remaining. Neither team was able to add to the score until Diamond Battles sank a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left to make it a three-point contest, 48-45, but that was as close as UCF was able to get.
The Knights were led by Diamond Battles, who finished with 12 points. Brittney Smith added 11 points with five rebounds. Tay Sanders chipped in 10 points. Destiny Thomas pulled down seven rebounds and had two blocks while Alisha Lewis dished out four assists.
Alabama 81, Tulane 77
Tulane University women's basketball (21-10, 11-5) came up shy of taking down Alabama (19-13, 6-10) a second time this season falling 81-77 on Monday night in the second round of the WNIT. The Green Wave shot 42.6 percent from the field and knocked down 10 three-pointers, but the difference in the contest came at the free throw line as the Tide made 24 from the charity stripe to just 15 for Tulane.
The loss brought the Wave's season to a close with 21 wins on the year, its most since Tulane won 23 games in the 2015-16 campaign. The Green Wave made its second consecutive WNIT appearance and notched its 20th postseason berth under head coach Lisa Stockton.
Redshirt senior Moon Ursin led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-17 shooting including 4-of-6 from downtown. Ursin fell just short of her 12th double-double of the season finishing with nine rebounds. Krystal Freeman joined Ursin in double figures for the Green Wave tallying 14 points of her own.
Alabama got off to a hot start taking a 5-0 lead to start the game before the Wave clamped down defensively. Ursin would hit back-to-back three-pointers to get Tulane back in the game. The Tide would try to pull ahead once again midway through the first, but the Wave would hold strong and exit the quarter down by just four.
Tulane chipped away at the deficit early in the second quarter and claimed the lead 22-21 with just under seven minutes to go in the first half. A back-and-forth battle would ensue over the next few minutes before a 7-0 run from the Tide back up by six. The Wave got the final bucket of the half on a layup from Ursin to send Tulane into the locker room trailing 40-36. The Green Wave hit six three-pointers on 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc in the first half.
The Wave came out with the hot hand in the third quarter going on a five-point run to open the scoring and take a 43-40 lead. Alabama would come back to tie it up at 45 apiece, but the Wave responded to reclaim a seven-point advantage with just over three minutes remaining in the quarter thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Kaila Anderson. Alabama managed to earn four trips to the charity stripe in the final minutes where it would knock down all eight attempts to leave Tulane facing a 59-58 deficit entering the final frame.
The fourth quarter turned into a physical battle as both teams would fight to the finish. Tulane would lead by five with 4:35 left on the clock, but Alabama would go on a 6-1 run to knot it up at 75 with 1:17 left to play. After 5-0 run by the Tide, the Wave cut the deficit to three with just three seconds remaining. Tulane would not get another chance to tie the game after Alabama knocked down one more free throw as the Green Wave's season came to a close with an 81-77 defeat.