Tuesday, Dec. 3 - Wednesday, Dec. 4
Highlights
Liberty 81, ECU 66
A sluggish third quarter cost the ECU women's basketball team as the Pirates fell to Liberty 81-66 on Tuesday night in the Vines Center.
ECU falls to 3-6 on the season while Liberty improves to a 3-6 mark as well.
The Pirates have four different players score at least 10 points, led by Taniyah Thompson's 13. Lashonda Monk and Necole Hope each had 12 points while Ryann Evans finished with 11. Dominique Claytor led ECU with six rebounds while Monk had a team-high three assists. Monk and Evans each had five steals while Thompson grabbed four steals.
ECU bounced back in the second, including a 7-0 run that featured five points from Katerina Tsineke. That put ECU back in front, but the teams traded the lead three more times, before a Claytor jumper gave ECU a 40-37 lead heading into the break.
The halftime lead evaporated quickly, with the Flames making their first nine shots of the second half. Only ECU forcing six turnovers prevented Liberty from stretching the lead even further. Liberty ended up going on a 21-5 run over the first seven minutes of the quarter, as Hope scored four points to keep ECU afloat. A 6-2 ECU run to finish the third, with field goals from both Claytor and Thompson, made it 61-51 heading into the fourth.
Tulane 62, Southern Miss 58
After trailing by 17 points in the third quarter, the Tulane University women's basketball team came back to defeat Southern Miss., 62-58.
Tulane (4-5) outshot Southern Miss. (6-2) .373-.361, but the Lady Eagles grabbed 45 rebounds to Tulane's 40. The Olive and Blue snagged a season-high 13 steals and forced 23 Southern Miss. turnovers. Junior Krystal Freeman led all players with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Arsula Clark scored 17 of her 20 points in the second half. Clark also added three rebounds, two steals and one assist. Sophomore Mia Heide logged a team-high three assists and three steals.
Southern Miss. opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 41-24 lead with six minutes left in the quarter. The Green Wave answered with an 11-0 run of their own to cut the score to 41-35 with four minutes left. The Lady Eagles led 44-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tulane scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, highlighted by five straight points from Clark, to take a 47-44 lead with eight minutes left. The game was tied at 49-49 then Freeman and freshman Salma Bates scored five straight for the Wave to take a 54-49 lead with five minutes left.
After trading baskets, the Lady Eagles cut the score to 58-56 with 20 seconds left. Freeman was fouled and made one of two free throws to give Tulane a 59-56 edge. The Lady Eagles hit a contested layup with 10 seconds left to make the score 59-58. Freshman Irina Parau was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and hit one of two from the charity strip to give Tulane a 60-58 lead. After a defensive stop from the Wave, Freeman knocked down two free throws to set the final score at 62-58.
Temple 74, Towson 59
Mia Davis recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 26 points and a season-high 15 rebounds as the Temple women's basketball team defeated Towson 74-59 Wednesday at SECU Arena. The Owls improve to 5-4 on the season while the Tigers fall to 3-5.
The Owls outshot Towson in every quarter except the second when both teams totaled 17 points. Temple outrebounded the Tigers 43-35 to hold the edge on the boards. However, the Owls allowed Towson to pull down 17 offensive rebounds, the most out of any opponent this season.
Davis collected 15 of her points at the foul line, shooting a career-high 18 foul shots. The junior finished with an 83.3% from the line. Ashley Jones added 21 points for the Owls along with six rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The Owls shot their best in the third quarter, going 50% from the field and 100% from the foul line. Despite shooting 88.2% (15-for-17) from the foul line, the Owls shot just 18.7% (3-for-16) from the floor in the final 10 minutes. The Tigers went on a 6-0 run over the span of three and a half minutes before two foul shots from Davis broke the streak. Temple went 11-for-12 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to secure their fifth victory of the season.
Florida Gulf Coast 57, Houston 45
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team couldn't quite get in the groove as they dropped a 57-45 decision to rv/rv Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.
Houston got out to a slow start on the defensive end, allowing FGCU to shoot 50 percent from the field and 3-of-10 from long-range in the opening frame. Dorian Branch got into rhythm racking up 7 of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter.
The Cougars were held to seven points in the second frame. Houston outscored FGCU 6-2 on second chance opportunities, outrebounded the Eagles 20-18 including 5-3 on the offensive glass and headed into the break trailing 33-20.
Branch paced the Cougars with six points in the third quarter, as Houston came out of the break energized. Houston was tough in the paint, outscoring the Eagles 8-2 down low and grabbing six more rebounds than FGCU.
Both teams struggled from the field in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Dymond Gladney led Houston in scoring in the fourth quarter with five points.
Missouri State 68, Wichita State 55
For three quarters Wichita State went toe-to-toe with No. 18 Missouri State before the Lady Bears pulled away behind a big fourth quarter to defeat the Shockers, 68-55, Wednesday night in JQH Arena.
Wichita State (4-3) saw its four-game winning streak come to an end, while also failing to hit a three-pointer in the game – one game after hitting 12 vs. Oklahoma. The Shockers' 0-for-10 mark from long range was the first time without a triple since Jan. 10, 2018 when WSU was 0-for-11 vs. Memphis.
Maya Brewer netted a career-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, marking her second game with 10 or more points this season and first since the season opener. Mariah McCully also posted a new career best, adding 13 points – 10 coming after halftime.
To begin the final quarter MSU used a 7-0 run to take its largest lead to that point, 52-40. Another 8-0 burst for the Lady Bears broke the game open, 60-42, with 4:48 remaining.
The Shockers made one last charge, putting together nine straight to pull within single digits, 60-51, and 2:15 on the clock. That would be as close as it would get, as the Lady Bears stretched it back to double digits in the final minute.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
