Highlights
UCF 64, Houston 59
The UCF women's basketball team locked a third place finish in the American Athletic Conference with a 64-59 victory over Houston in H&PE Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Knights shot 50 percent or better in three of the four quarters, and 47.4 percent from the floor for the game. UCF held the Cougars to just 27.3 percent from the field in the second quarter.
After Houston took a 56-55 lead with 4:48 left in the game, the UCF defense locked down over the final stretch. The Knights held the Cougars to just three points over the last stretch while pouring in nine points of their own.
Kay Kay Wright led a trio of Knights in double figures, scoring 19 points to go along with four assists. Zakiya Saunders
added 16 points with three steals. Masseny Kaba just missed a double-double, chipping in 11 points with nine rebounds. Houston finished with two players in double figures, including a game-high 20 points from sophomore Jasmyne Harris. Angela Harris added 14 points, while Myya West led the Cougars on the boards with seven rebounds.
Temple 64, ECU 64
Trailing by two with under a minute to play, the Temple women's basketball team got a bucket from freshman Desiree Oliver and a free throw from senior Tanaya Atkinson to give the Owls a 65-64 victory at East Carolina on Saturday. The win improves the Owls to 11-17 overall, 3-12 in conference play, while the Pirates fall to 15-13 overall, 7-8 in The American.
A huge third quarter from Temple rallied the Owls from down five at the half, to take a 48-39 lead after three. ECU was able to answer on their home court to take a late lead, but Temple closed the game on an 11-6 run to earn the win.
Atkinson finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season, while becoming Temple's all-time single season free throw leader. She bested Kelly Lane's record of 147 from the line in the 1989-90 season. Rookie
Mia Davis also grabbed a double-double, her fifth of the season, with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
The Purple and gold were led by freshman Lashonda Monk who recorded her second-career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The freshman also added five assists and five steals in 34 minutes of action.
Memphis 65, Tulsa 56
The University of Memphis women's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 65-56 victory Saturday afternoon over Tulsa on Senior Day. Pregame, Memphis honored seniors Breigha Wilder-Cochran, Brea Elmore, and Cheyenne Creighton. All three players started for the Tigers in their final home game at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers improve to 9-19 on the year and 4-11 in AAC play.
Memphis built its lead to as many as 11, 29-18, with 3:21 before intermission on a Creighton lay-up before Tulsa finished the half on a 7-1 run including a three-pointer at the buzzer. Much like the rest of the contest, Memphis bounced back to build another double-digit lead over the visiting Golden Hurricane in the fourth. In the final three minutes of play, the closest Tulsa would come would be six points.
Elmore led
Memphis with 20 points and 7 assists. It was her 11
th 20-point game of the season. Alana Davis had her third career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds and Creighton finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four steals.
Erika Wakefield led the Hurricane attack with 12 points, while Shug Dickson and Alexis Gaulden both added 11, and Crystal Polk scored 10.
Wichita State 81, Tulane 70
Rangie Bessard and Angiee Tompkins both scored more than 20 points to lead Wichita State to an 81-70 win over Tulane on Senior Day in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (13-16, 8-7) swept the season series with Tulane and has now won three-straight games with just one regular season contest remaining. The Shockers then put together a 12-2 run to open a 22-14 lead with 2:30 to play in the first quarter. Bessard (8), Lockhart (7) and Tompkins (7) combined to score all 22 points. A Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage three from the wing would make it 25-14 at the end of the period. Through three quarters, Wichita State held a 62-52 lead and the Shockers hitting more than 50 percent of their attempts.
Bessard tallied a game-high 25 points, marking her 14th 20-point game of the season. She also moved into seventh place on the Wichita State all-time scoring list with 1,429 career points. Bessard just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Tulane's Harlyn Wyatt set a new career high with 18 points, with Tatyana Lofton doing the same with 16 points.
USF 84, Cincinnati 65
With an 84-65 victory over Cincinnati Sunday, seniors Maria Jespersen and Laia Flores became the winningest class in program history. The seniors collected win number 99 in front of a crowd of over 2,500 fans at the Sun Dome.
USF (24-5, 13-2 The American) utilized all nine players on their active roster but the two seniors shined brighter than ever. Jespersen scored 26 points and grabbed a season high 16 rebounds. The double-double outing marked her 17th this season. Jespersen shot 50 percent from the floor and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Flores dished out a new season high 12 assists. The point guard also added two blocks and two steals.
USF held Cincinnati (17-11, 9-6) to 15 points in each of the first three quarters and held its tenth team in the last 11 games to just 65 points.
Senior guard Ana Owens led the way for the Bearcats with 15 points as well as two rebounds and two assists. Sophomore guard Antoinette Miller continued her strong play off the bench with 14 points to go along with six rebounds.
UConn 80, SMU 36
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 23 points and top-ranked UConn wrapped up its fifth consecutive American Athletic Conference regular-season championship, using a 43-0 first-half run to rout SMU 80-36 on Saturday.
SMU scored the first five points and led 12-6 late in the first quarter, the crowd erupting when the Mustangs' Klara Bradshaw blocked a layup attempt by Samuelson. UConn uncharacteristically didn't grab its first lead until 1:21 remained in the first quarter at 13-12 on a three-point play by Collier. The Huskies scored the next 43 points for a 49-12 lead.
UConn set a program record for fewest points allowed in a quarter, the quarter format in its third NCAA season, by outscoring SMU 32-1 in the second period.
McKenzie Adams led SMU (10-18, 4-11) with 10 points.
Upcoming Schedule
Feb. 26 (Monday)
| ECU at UCF |
7 p.m. ET |
| 18/17 USF at 1/1 UConn |
7 p.m. ET |
| -/RV Houston at Cincinnati |
7 p.m. ET |
| Memphis at Temple |
7 p.m. ET |
| SMU at Tulane |
8 p.m. ET |
| Wichita State at Tulsa |
8 p.m. ET |
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