Saturday, January 21
East Carolina 66, Wichita State 57 – Box Score
Tulane 77, Tulsa 72 – Box Score
Memphis 64, Temple 53 – Box Score
SMU 53, Houston 50 – Box Score
Recaps
East Carolina 66, Wichita State 57 – Box Score
WICHITA – The East Carolina women's basketball team defeated the Wichita Shockers, 66-57, on Saturday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena. The Pirates were led by Micah Dennis with an outstanding outing, racking up 19 points, five boards, two assists and two steals.
East Carolina (14-6, 5-2 The American) took a nine-point lead into halftime thanks to a 10-0 second-quarter run led by attacking defense and transition offense. The Pirates also took advantage of early foul trouble for Wichita State's Jane Asinde.
With Asinde back in the lineup in the second half, the Shockers (12-8, 2-5 The American) put on a 10-0 run of their own to take the lead back, thanks largely to their dominance on the glass and in the post.
The teams entered the fourth quarter level at 46 thanks to an Amiya Joyner three-point basket on what was intended to be a pass. It counted all the same as three points for the Pirates with a minute to play in the third.
In the final period, East Carolina found the key buckets. Dennis hit back-to-back triples, continuing her strong play after a 13-point first half. The threes extended the lead to nine and despite dominance by Wichita State on the glass, the Pirates held firm with the lead.
The team hit big shots late, including a pair of free throws each by Joyner and McNeal and forced the Shockers into mistakes. Wichita State turned the ball over nine times in the final quarter as the Pirates rolled on to a nine-point victory.
Danae McNeal and Joyner both had strong games once again with lines of 18 and four steals and 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks, respectively.
The victory was the Pirates' first ever at Charles Koch Arena.
Tulane 77, Tulsa 72 – Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – Strong perimeter defense and a stellar offensive attack in the paint helped Tulane University Women's Basketball (13-7, 3-4 The American) knock off Tulsa (15-4, 5-1 The American) 77-72 in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Saturday. The Green Wave limited the Golden Hurricane to just 25-percent (9-36) shooting from beyond the arc while pounding the paint on the other end for 38 points around the bucket.
Four players posted double figures in the scoring column for the Wave in the victory. Marta Galic led the way with 19 points while adding six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Kyren Whittington followed closely behind scoring 17 points along with five rebounds. Rounding out the top scorers for Tulane were Dynah Jones with 14 points and Anijah Grant with 10.
The Green Wave attacked the rim with a purpose to win the paint battle against Tulsa. Tulane outscored the Golden Hurricane 38-26 and outrebounded Tulsa 40-34. Ball movement was a critical element for the Wave getting efficient shots around the rim as well. Rachel Hakes dished out 10 of the Green Wave's 21 assists and led the team on the glass with eight boards.
Tulsa was led by Temira Poindexter with 24 points in the contest. Maddie Bittle followed with 18 points for the Golden Hurricane while Maya Mayberry added 12 and Katelyn Levings posted 10.
The Wave and the Golden Hurricane went back and forth in the opening frame exchanging the lead three times and meeting in a tie twice. Tulane attacked inside scoring 12 points in the paint in the first quarter as Grant led the way with six. Jones turned a blocked shot into a fastbreak layup in the final minute to end the frame with a 14-14 tie.
After Tulsa got the first bucket of the second quarter, the Green Wave bounced back to take the lead and extend it to six points with 6:23 on the clock. Galic and Kahia Warmsley each tallied seven points as Tulane scored 20 in the frame to hit halftime leading 34-30.
The offense kept getting better for the Wave to start the second half as Tulane shot 56.3 percent from the field in the third. A 7-0 run started with 5:03 on the clock for the Green Wave to break a tie and take a 50-43 advantage. Whittington knocked down her first three of the contest late in the frame to put Tulane up 55-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tulsa opened the fourth with an 8-0 run to cut the Tulane lead to 55-53 with 8:08 still left to play. The Wave did not let the run rattle its composure though as it continued to answer any bucket scored by the Golden Hurricane to maintain the lead. A 10-point quarter from Whittington and clutch free throws by Tulane secured the 77-72 victory to hand Tulsa its first conference loss of the year.
Memphis 64, Temple 53 – Box Score
MEMPHIS, – The Memphis Tiger women's basketball team picked up their second consecutive American Athletic Conference win today after taking down the Owls of Temple University 64-53.
Following today's game, Memphis moves to 11-8 overall and 3-3 in The American
The Temple defense got out to a hot start, holding Memphis to just four points in the opening portion of the first quarter. After facing a deficit as much as seven, the Tiger offense would get three straight buckets from Lanetta Williams, Jamirah Shutes and Emani Jefferson to take the 15-13 score into the second quarter.
Memphis would make their comeback in the second quarter led behind seven points from Williams and two gigantic blocks from Jefferson.
The Tigers would close out the first half on an 8-2 run that was capped off with a buzzer-beater lay-up from Williams to give Memphis the 28-26 lead into the break.
A dominating third quarter would ignite the Tigers offense while their lockdown defense held the Owls to just seven points. Memphis' offense would string together a 9-0 run that was capped off with a three-pointer from Madison Griggs to give the Tigers a 13-point lead.
Following a free throw from Shutes at the end of the third quarter to put Memphis up 45-33, the Tigers would extend their lead out to as much as 22 in the fourth quarter; Griggs would get hot from long range with back-to-back threes after Shutes and Jefferson sank four consecutive free throws to give the Tigers a cushion heading into the final minutes.
Temple was not going to go away easy. The Owls offense would score nine unanswered points in less than a minute to cut the Tiger lead to 57-44 with under four minutes left in the game. But Memphis' lead would hold out for the final minutes of the game as they claimed the 64-53 win.
Three Tiger players reached double-figure scoring today; Madison Griggs led the team with 14 points while Emani Jefferson and Hannah Riddick both added in 12. Riddick picked up her third double-double of the season with a game-high 11 rebounds.
As a team, Memphis shot 34% from the field and recorded six blocks during today's game.
SMU 53, Houston 50 – Box Score
DALLAS - Using Chantae Embry's fourth double-double of the season, including a career-high 21 points, the SMU Mustangs defeated the Houston Cougars 53-50 Saturday at Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs are 10-0 at home, breaking the program's record for the best home start to a season. Savannah Wilkinson earned her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The victory also helped the Mustangs break the program's longest home unbeaten streak at 10 games.
A dominant third quarter performance helped propel SMU (13-6, 4-3 The American) to the victory. The Mustangs opened the second half on a 7-0 run. Embry knocked down a jump shot as the shot clock expired to give SMU the first points of the half. Then, Wilkinson scored five straight points, including an an-and-one layup that gave SMU its first lead since the 8:54 mark in the first quarter. SMU outscored Houston by a 22-13 margin in the third quarter while shooting 50% (6-12 FG).
SMU held Houston (6-13, 3-3 The American) without a field goal in the last eight minutes of regulation to close out the Cougars.
After the first frame, the Mustangs trailed 17-11. Following a Houston technical foul at the 3:41 mark in the first half, SMU closed in on the Cougar lead with a 7-2 run, holding Houston scoreless for over three minutes.
Embry finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, earning her fourth 20+ point performance of the season. Reagan Bradley tallied eight points and three rebounds, reaching 600 career points. Tamia Jones added five points and seven rebounds. Jasmine Smith scored five points and earned five assists.