Saturday, February 4
East Carolina 68, UCF 54 – Box Score
Houston 65, Temple 60 – Box Score
Memphis 70, Wichita State 60 – Box Score
#25/22 South Florida 65, SMU 63 – Box Score
Cincinnati 53, Tulane 50 – Box Score
Recaps
East Carolina 68, UCF 54 – Box Score
ORLANDO – The East Carolina women's basketball team defeated the UCF Knights, 68-54, Saturday in Addition Financial Arena. The Pirates were led by Danae McNeal with 27 points and four steals. The victory was ECU's first over the Knights since Jan. 7, 2016.
East Carolina (15-8, 6-4 The American) set the tone in the first quarter by holding the Knights (10-10, 1-7 The American) to a mere six points while McNeal scored eight of her own, leading by two at the break.
After a comparatively even second quarter the Pirates methodically worked to push the lead to 21 at the end of the third quarter. McNeal had another strong quarter while Morgan Moseley swished home her first three of the season, and an emphatic Amiya Joyner block seemed to take what little air was left out of UCF.
Speaking of Joyner, she moved up several spots in the freshman rebounding rankings, passing 1982 All-America Mary Denkler and Tracey Kelley to get to fifth on the all-time list. The freshman forward also recorded her eighth double-double of the season in the game with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
For her part, Moseley had a strong day, taking two charges – which has become a signature for the junior forward – to go with her 11 points and seven rebounds.
UCF was led by Destiny Thomas with 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Knights did make a run at it in the fourth quarter, knocking down four threes and closing the gap to as low as the final margin of 14.
Ultimately the Pirates defense proved too much, though, as the Knights turned the ball over 22 times leading to 17 points off turnovers.
For fans of niche-adjacent stats, McNeal missed a rare free throw in the game, breaking a streak of 33-consecutive makes. The streak was the longest since Jada Payne hit 35 in a row in 2013-14.
Houston 65, Temple 60 – Box Score
HOUSTON – A dominant second half performance helped the University of Houston women's basketball team erase a 14-point deficit on its way to a 65-60 victory over Temple on Saturday at Fertitta Center.
The Cougars (9-13, 6-3 The American) sparked a comeback back late in the first half and carried it over into the third quarter, outscoring Temple (10-12, 5-5 The American) in the last three quarters of play. Houston has now won seven of its last eight meetings against Temple as the Cougars extend its season winning streak to three games for the second time this year.
Blair led the Cougars with a season-high 25 points paired with five rebounds. Graduate forward Tatyana Hill was a force on the glass as she matched a season-high 15 rebounds paired with 10 points as she posted her fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Britney Onyeje hit double digits with 11 points and five rebounds.
An back-and-forth start quickly leaned Temple's way early as the Owls' led 10-4 late in the period. Houston found its rhythm offensively, finding the right spots and getting to the rim but the Cougars still trailed 17-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Down 14 points midway through the second quarter, the Cougars strung several short runs together highlighted by an 8-0 to cut the deficit to 27-21. Houston closed out the quarter on a 13-2 run to trail 29-26 entering the break.
Blair led the way with 11 points at halftime as she knocked down two 3-pointers late to tighten the gap. Senior forward Bria Patterson followed with six points while Hill tallied nine rebounds in the first half.
Houston played its best quarter of the game in the third quarter led by Blair, Hill and Onyeje who combined for 13 of the Cougars 19 points in the period. Trailing most of the first half, the Cougars sparked a 14-4 run to regain the lead 42-36 before holding on to a 45-40 lead heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was a battle on both ends, as the Cougars traded buckets before Onyeje completed a four-point play to create some distance at 57-52.
The gap remained narrow into the final minute before the Owls cut the deficit down to 61-60 with nine seconds to go. Houston held on defensively and closed the game out with two trips to the charity stripe to complete the comeback as time expired.
Memphis 70, Wichita State 60 – Box Score
WICHITA – After having their mid-week game postponed due to inclement weather, the Memphis Tiger women's basketball team made the trip up to Kansas to take on the Shockers of Wichita State. An early offensive surge would give Memphis the push they needed as they picked up the 70-60 win over Wichita State.
Following today's game, the Tigers move to 13-9 overall and 5-4 in American Athletic Conference play.
Memphis got out to a hot start with an 11-3 lead over the Shockers after Jamirah Shutes sank back-to-back free throws with just over five minutes left in the quarter. In the next possession, Shelbee Brown would add in a transition lay-up to push the Tiger's lead out to 10 and force a Wichita State timeout.
The Tigers would extend their lead out to as much as 11 following a three-pointer from Emani Jefferson in the corner. WSU would get one final bucket before the buzzer to cut into the Memphis lead and take the 18-9 game into the second quarter.
Wichita State would get an offensive surge in the second, cutting the Tiger lead to as little as two after Ornella Niankan made two free throws with 2:42 left in the half. Shutes and Destiny Thomas would give Memphis one final push of the half with consecutive buckets and taking the 30-24 lead into the break.
The Shockers would hold Memphis scoreless for over two minutes to open the second half as they cut deeper into the Tiger lead. Buckets from Shutes, Madison Griggs and Destyne Jackson on three consecutive possessions would push the Tiger lead back out to 10 with just under five minutes left in the quarter.
Memphis and Wichita State would trade possessions to end the third quarter, taking the 49-40 Tiger advantage into the final 10 minutes of play.
A high-scoring affair came in the fourth quarter as Memphis tried to defend their lead.
The Tigers would get three long range baskets from Griggs, Makaiya Brooks and Tanyuel Welch and eight straight free throws from the trio of Jefferson, Griggs and Shutes in the final 90 seconds of the game to cruise to the 70-60 win.
Jamirah Shutes led all players with 21 points while Madison Griggs and Emani Jefferson added in 14 and 10, respectively. Hannah Riddick cleaned up on the boards for Memphis with 12 rebounds while Destiny Thomas grabbed seven.
As a team, Memphis shot 36% from the field and went 17-20 from the free throw line.
#25/22 South Florida 65, SMU 63 – Box Score
DALLAS — Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu scored 21 points, Sammie Puisis had a double-double, and No. 25/22 South Florida rallied past SMU 65-63 on Saturday.
USF coach Jose Fernandez won for the 119th time in the American Athletic Conference and passed UConn coach Geno Auriemma for first place on the conference list.
A quick 7-0 run capped by Marina Asensio's 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter put the Bulls up 57-55, their first lead of the second half. Upset-minded SMU responded with two 3-pointers from Jasmine Smith and the Mustangs led 63-59 with 4:07 remaining but would not score again.
USF scored the next six points, capped by back-to-back layups from Fankam Mendjiadeu for a 65-63 lead with 59 seconds left. Still trailing by two, SMU forced a turnover with 16 seconds left but Chantae Embry missed a driving layup and Puisis grabbed the rebound with five seconds left. SMU came up with another steal but Aerial Wilson blocked Smith's 3-point try as time was running out.
Puisis had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Elena Tsineke scored 15 points for the Bulls (22-4, 11-0). Fankam Mendjiadeu grabbed eight rebounds.
South Florida won its 12th straight and matched the 2020-21 team for the program's best start in AAC play. The Bulls had a 42-24 rebounding advantage and made all 16 of their free throw attempts.
Smith scored 26 points and Savannah Wilkinson and Reagan Bradley scored 14 each for the Mustangs (14-7, 5-4).
SMU scored the final six points of the first quarter to take an 18-8 lead and Bradley opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for a 13-point lead. The Bulls battled back and took a 30-28 lead when Fankam Mendjiadeu completed a three-point play with 1:43 left in the first half. The score was tied at 32 at halftime.
After an early tie, SMU led throughout the third quarter, but never by more than six. The Bulls were within 47-45 after a steal and fast-break layup by Asensio before Wilkinson scored four of the Mustangs' last six points of the quarter for a 53-48 lead heading to the fourth.
Cincinnati 53, Tulane 50 – Box Score
NEW ORLEANS – Senior guard Caitlyn Wilson connected on six threes for a team-high 18 points off the bench to lead the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team to a 53-50 road win over Tulane inside Devlin Fieldhouse on Saturday.
The six threes are the most made by a Bearcat this season.
Cincinnati earns its first conference win of the season and improves to 8-14, 1-8 in The American.
Junior guard Jillian Hayes finished with eight points and six rebounds, while senior guard Mya Jackson turned in nine points, three rebounds and an assist. Sophomore forward/center Clarissa Craig added six points and six rebounds behind 4-4 from the free throw line. The Bearcats have now converted on at least 70.0 percent from the line in seven of their last eight games after finishing 8-10 from the line on the afternoon.
The two sides settled in by trading baskets on the opening possessions with the Bearcats trailing 9-6 at the first media timeout. Cincinnati forced three turnovers and held Tulane scoreless over the last 2:09 minutes of the period to make it 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The Green Wave responded with a 7-0 spurt out of the quarter break before four straight points from Hayes shifted the momentum back in favor of the visitors. The four points were a part of a 11-2 run by Cincinnati that cut the deficit to 22-19 with 2:43 minutes left in the second quarter. The Bearcats' defense kept it a one possession game at 26-23 heading into the locker room by holding the Green Wave 0-9 from the field over the final 7:24 minutes of the first half.
Cincinnati forced nine turnovers behind six steals and posted 14 points in the paint in the first half.
A pair of threes from senior guard Caitlyn Wilson sparked a 13-0 run out of half that forced a Green Wave timeout and provided the Bearcats the lead at 36-26 at the 5:35-minute mark in the third quarter. Wilson continued to burn the defense from behind the arc as she made two more triples in the quarter to extend the margin to 44-36 at the end of the third quarter.
Each side continued to battle for momentum over the final frame as Tulane used on a quick 5-0 spurt that cut it to a one-point game with 1:29 minutes left in regulation. Mya Jackson split two defenders and finished with a layup off the top of the glass with 12 seconds remaining to push it back to three before the Bearcats forced a miss on the other end to secure the win.
Cincinnati connected on 7-14 for 50.0 percent from behind the arc on the afternoon. The Bearcats improve to 15-2 when making at least 50.0 percent from three under head coach Michelle Clark-Heard. The Bearcats finished with 10 steals, their eight game with double-digit steals this season.