Wednesday, February 15
East Carolina 68, Cincinnati 57 – Box Score
Tulane 52, SMU 50 – Box Score
South Florida 73, UCF 44 – Box Score
Wichita State 84, Tulsa 68 – Box Score
Memphis 45, Houston 44 – Box Score
Recaps
East Carolina 68, Cincinnati 57 – Box Score
CINCINNATI – After trailing by as many as eleven points in the game, the East Carolina women's basketball team defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 68-57, on Wednesday evening in Fifth Third Arena. The Pirates were led statistically by Danae McNeal with a career-high 30 points and Amiya Joyner with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
If one were to be in the habit of handing out player of the game awards, the award goes not to just one ECU player on Wednesday night. The award goes to the second group of: Alexsia Rose, Jayla Hearp, Iycez Adams, Bobbi Smith and Kimora Jenkins. With the Pirates (18-8, 9-4 The American) down and out facing a double-digit deficit with 7:57 to play in the third quarter, those five entered the game and ignited a fire.
Though they did not score all the points or get all the stops, Rose, Hearp, Adams, Smith and Jenkins showed immeasurable heart to rally the team – taking the 11-point margin to just six.
When the starters returned to the game four minutes later, they had a different look in their eyes, a fire that had not been there before. McNeal lit the Bearcats (9-16, 2-10 The American) up for the final frame – dropping 18 of her 30 points in the fourth quarter alone as the Pirates roared to life. Joyner woke up as well, dominating the boards and finding some key baskets of her own as she notched her 11th double-double of the season with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
En route to her 15 boards, Joyner passed two more greats: Rosie Thompson and Marcia Girven and now stands alone at the top of the ECU all-time freshman rebounds list with 208 and counting on the year.
Micah Dennis led the Pirates with five assists and the team scored 36 of their 68 points in the paint – despite McNeal raining in four threes, including three in the second half.
Tulane 52, SMU 50 – Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – Strong defense and a late surge lead Tulane University Women's Basketball (15-11, 5-8 The American) to a 52-50 win over SMU (15-8, 6-5 The American) at home Wednesday night. The Green Wave limited the Mustangs to 0-of-13 from beyond the arc and only seven points in the fourth quarter to earn its second consecutive American Athletic Conference victory.
The win was also Head Coach Lisa Stockton's 576th victory at Tulane which ties former Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore for the most wins by a women's college basketball coach in the state of Louisiana.
Dynah Jones led the Green Wave in scoring with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. She also added four rebounds, two assists, and a pair of steals. The next leading scorer for the Wave was Kyren Whittington with eight points along with three rebounds, two assists, and a block.
SMU's Savannah Wilkinson led all scorers in the contest with 23 points and added seven rebounds and two assists.
Tulane jumped out to the early lead by shooting 56.3 percent from the field in the first quarter. The Wave led by as many as six in the frame as Jones paced the scoring with six points. Whittington and Marta Galic followed with four points apiece to help Tulane hold an 18-14 advantage at the end of the first.
The offense slowed down for both teams in the second quarter as both squads shot under 30 percent. Each team scored just eight points in the frame allowing Tulane to maintain its four-point advantage at the break leading 26-22.
SMU opened the second half with a 10-4 run to take its first lead of the night at 30-32. The Wave responded with seven unanswered points to reclaim the lead, but the Mustangs closed the frame strong as Tulane trailed 41-43 heading into the fourth.
The Green Wave and the Mustangs went back and forth in the final frame until Jones was fouled on a three-point attempt and knocked down all three free throws to put Tulane in front 51-50 with 2:31 to play. Jones sank another free throw with eight seconds remaining before the defense secured the 52-50 win on the other end of the floor.
South Florida 73, UCF 44 – Box Score
ORLANDO — South Florida defeated its rival UCF to close out the regular season edition of the War on I-4 with a 73-44 victory at Addition Financial Arena Wednesday night. South Florida improves to 23-5 on the year and 12-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Central Florida falls to 11-12 overall and 2-9 in The American.
In addition, with the Bulls' win, and Houston's 45-44 loss to Memphis, South Florida has earned at least a share of The American regular season championship and will look to win the title outright with a win on Saturday against SMU (4:30 p.m. ESPN+). A regular season championship would be the Green and Gold's second in the last three years.
The win is also the Bulls' 13th in the last 14 games.
Elena Tsineke led the way for South Florida with 19 points and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu added 18 points and 14 rebounds in the win. Sammie Puisis chipped in with 12 points while Carla Brito grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Bulls jumped out on top of the Knights right from the opening tip and never looked back. South Florida used an 8-0 run to end the first quarter and take a 17-9 lead after 10 minutes and then a 10-0 stretch in the second to extend its lead to 38-15 at the break. The Green and Gold outscored Central Florida in the second stanza, 21-6, while shooting 57.1 percent from the field (8-of-14) and holding the Knights to a dismal 8.3 percent (1-of-12) from the floor.
The Bulls pushed their lead to as many as 32 points at the end of the third quarter when Tsineke hit a jumper with 35 seconds left to make the score 61-29.
Central Florida had visions of a galactic-type comeback, cutting the South Florida lead to 21 points, 61-40, with just over seven minutes left in the contest. The Bulls, however, closed out the game by scoring 12 of the final 16 points en route to the win.
South Florida controlled the boards, outrebounding the Knights, 47-33, and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds leading to 18 second-chance points. The Bulls also controlled the inside game outscoring Central Florida, 36-16, in points in the paint.
Wichita State 84, Tulsa 68 – Box Score
WICHITA – Wichita State's low-post presence of Jane Asinde and Trajata Colbert once again powered the Shockers, both with double-doubles, to a 84-68 win over Tulsa Wednesday night in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (15-11, 5-8 The American) snapped a four-game losing streak vs. Tulsa, upping its all-time record to 22-8 vs. the Golden Hurricane.
Asinde scored a career-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals. It's her 10th double-double of the season and third in last four games.
Colbert added her fifth straight double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds. She was 8-for-13 from the field and 5-for-5 at the free throw line. DJ McCarty bounced back from a scoreless outing at ECU with 13 points, four assists and four steals. Ambah Kowcun added 10 points off the bench.
Wichita State shot 45 percent from the field and was 21-of-24 at the free throw line. The Shockers won the rebound battle, 44-28, and forced 15 turnovers.
Wichita scored the first six points of the game to seize control from the opening tip. They would lead 17-13 after 10 minutes.
Holding a 26-23 lead with 5:30 to go in the second quarter, Wichita State put together an 8-0 run to go up by double digits for the first time. A Curtessia Dean jumper and two Asinde free throws put the Shockers up 40-28 at the end of the half.
McCarty and Colbert led the way with nine points in the first half, followed by Asinde closely behind at seven.
McCarty would score the first bucket of the second half to make it 42-28, but Tulsa would answer with a 12-0 run in the span of less than three minutes to pull within two. Immediately after the timeout, a Kowcun three-pointer and an Asinde layup put the Shockers back up by seven.
Both teams traded baskets until a Temira Poindexter triple just before the end of the quarter pulled Tulsa within four, 56-52.
Entering the fourth quarter, Tulsa had seized some momentum, but Wichita State scored the first four points and never looked back. With 7:21 remaining Wichita State had pushed the lead back to 10.
The Shockers never let Tulsa come within eight the rest of the way, cruising to a much-needed home win.
Memphis 45, Houston 44 – Box Score
HOUSTON – The Memphis Tiger women's basketball team pulled off yet another comeback after making a gigantic second half run to take the 45-44 win in the final seconds of the game over Houston.
Following tonight's game, Memphis moves to 15-9 overall and 7-4 in American Athletic Conference play.
A slow start plagued the Tigers in the opening quarter; Memphis would be forced into eight turnovers as Houston took a 13-7 lead into the second quarter.
It was much of the same in second as the Cougars held the Tigers to just seven points once again. After Madison Griggs drained her second three-pointer of the game less than a minute into the quarter, the Tiger offense would be held scoreless for over four minutes before Hannah Riddick grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in to make it a 21-12 game.
Destiny Thomas would add in a lay-up with just over a minute left in the half to make it a 26-14 deficit for the Tigers heading into the break.
Memphis would come storming back in the third quarter; while their offense finally found some rhythm, the defense locked down Houston and held them scoreless for over seven minutes to cut their deficit to as little as six.
Emani Jefferson would ignite the Tiger offense, scoring five points in the quarter. Riddick would sink one of two free throws at the end of the as they took a 32-26 game into the final 10 minutes of the play.
Memphis would find their form in the fourth quarter going 7-13 from the field and getting two clutch three-pointers from Madison Griggs.
A 7-0 run from the Tigers late in the fourth would tie the game up for the first time since the 2:37 mark in the first quarter after Shutes sank a free throw with just under three minutes to play. Memphis would regain the lead at 45-44 with 22 seconds left when Griggs hit a dagger three-pointer from the top of the key.
The Tiger defense held steady in the remaining seconds of the game that saw Houston miss a three-pointer, a putback lay-up and two free throws in the remaining 10 seconds. Memphis would complete their comeback and take the 45-44 win.
Griggs led all scorers with 12 points, all of which came from behind the arc, while Riddick grabbed 12 rebounds and picked up three steals.
As a team, Memphis shot just 28% from the field and won the battle on the boards 51-36.
The Tigers, who picked up their first win at Houston since 2017, are just the second Division I team this year to win multiple games while shooting less than 30% from the field. This is the first time since the 2015-16 season that the Tigers recorded back-to-back games of 20 or more offensive rebounds and is first time since 2018-19 that they have recorded consecutive games of 50 or more rebounds.