Tuesday, Feb. 18-Wednesday, Feb. 19
Highlights
No. 6/5 UConn 74, Tulane 31
Anna Makurat and Megan Walker each scored 18 points and No. 6 UConn secured a share of its seventh straight American Athletic Conference regular-season title Wednesday night with a 74-31 rout of Tulane.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa recorded her sixth double-double of the season, her first since December, scoring 10 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the Huskies (22-3, 12-0 American).
UConn, which this week fell from Top 5 in the ranking for the first time since February, 2007, has won all of its 114 regular-season conference games since the formation of the AAC and all six conference tournaments.
Krystal Freeman and Irina Parau each scored seven points to lead Tulane (12-14, 7-6), which has lost five in a row and six of its last seven.
The Green Wave started strong, hitting their first three shots from behind the arc and taking an early 9-7 lead.
The Huskies made just eight of their 19 shots in the first 10 minutes, but led 19-13 after a quarter.
The Huskies went on a 16-0 run in the second period to control of the game. Walker (14 points) and Anna Makurat (11) were both in double digits by halftime and UConn went into intermission up 44-21.
The Huskies took their first 30-point lead at 51-21 when Makurat stole an errant pass from Sierra Cheatham was fouled while making a layup on the breakaway and hit the free throw.
They led 59-26 after the third quarter.
UConn held Tulane to 20% shooting, including just four baskets on 35 shots (11%) in the second half.
The Huskies also dominated the inside game, outscoring Tulane 36-10 in the paint.
Cincinnati 74, Houston 65
Angel Rizor scored a career-high 20 points and joined Illmar'i Thomas with a double-double as the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team bounced back from Saturday's loss with a gritty performance to record a 74-65 win at Houston Tuesday night. The win pushed the Bearcats to 17-8 on the year and 8-4 in the American while Houston fell to 12-15 overall and 5-8 in league play.
Rizor came out on fire as she opened the game 5-of-5 from the floor before finishing with a career-high-tying 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds, two assists and one steal. Her fourth double-double of the season and second in three games, Rizor's previous scoring best came earlier this year at Xavier (12/14/19) and at home against Coppin State (12/30/19). Additionally, her 10 rebounds moved her into #9 on the program's career rebounding list with 676.
Rizor was not the only Bearcats player to have a big night as Thomas secured her eighth double-double of the season and 16th of her career as she posted 16 points and 13 rebounds on the night. The duo posted double-doubles in the same game for the third time this year and the second time in three games after doing so against Tulsa last week.
Antoinette Miller and Addaya Moore each recorded career-highs of their own as well. Miller finidhed the game with 17 points and was 5-of-8 from three, tying her career-high for made treys in a game. That last time she did that was Feb. 4, 2018, in a game at #1 UConn. Moore tallied nine points, surpassing her previous best of eight that she recorded twice, most recently against Miami (Ohio) back in December.
All told, the Bearcats' win kept them in second place in the league standings with four more regular season games remaining on the slate.
UCF 56, USF 48
(UCFKnights.com) – A dominant defensive effort led the UCF women's basketball team to a 56-48 win over South Florida in Addition Financial Arena on Wednesday evening.
UCF (16-8, 8-4 The American) forced South Florida (15-11, 7-5 The American) into 21 turnovers and held them to just 32.7 percent shooting from the floor.
The Knights completed the season sweep of the Bulls and added three points to UCF's War On i-4 total, bringing the 2019-20 tally to 33-9. The win also pushed UCF into a tie with Cincinnati for second in the league standings with four regular season contests.
The Black and Gold scored the first basket of the contest but then the Bulls scored six unanswered to take a four-point advantage out of the media timeout. A pair of three-pointers from Georgia Gayle and a free throw from Masseny Kaba pushed the Black and Gold back in front where the Knights remained, leading 13-7 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
UCF pushed its advantage to double digits in the second quarter, going up 21-9 before taking a 23-18 lead into the locker room. South Florida scored five unanswered out of the break to tie the score at 23-23 and traded lead with the Knights until just before the media timeout.
Leading 38-32 heading into the fourth quarter, Kay Kay Wright took over. She scored six unanswered points to push UCF out to a seven-point advantage, 46-39, halfway through the frame. After South Florida pulled within four, 52-48, Wright and Gayle put the game out of reach in the final minute.
Wright posted a game-high 24 points, scoring 14 in the fourth quarter on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.
Brittney Smith added 10 points for the Knights while Masseny Kaba grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds. Diamond Battles dished out three assists without a turnover in nearly 26 minutes of action.
Temple 78, Memphis 64
The Temple women's basketball team notched a 78-64 win over visiting Memphis at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday afternoon. The Owls moved to 15-10 overall (7-5 AAC) in front of over 3,600 school children from the local community, as Temple celebrated "School Day." Memphis falls to 13-13 overall, 4-8 in conference play.
A huge first quarter run set the tone for the Owls in the game, as Temple outscored Memphis 23-13. Memphis got one back after the second quarter, but the Owls led by nine at the break. Temple led by as many as 18 points in the second half, as the Owls notched their 15th win of the season. For the game, Temple shot 52.3% from the field, holding Memphis to 40.3%.The Owls were out-rebounded 37-31, but racked up 48 points in the paint.
Junior Mia Davis tallied a game high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Ashley Jones finished with 21 points adding nine assists. Graduate student Lena Niang 14 points with a career high four assists.
East Carolina 59, Tulsa 42
A tenacious defensive effort, including a record-breaking performance, helped the ECU women's basketball team beat Tulsa 59-42 on Wednesday night inside Minges Coliseum.
ECU (7-18, 4-8) was led by Lashonda Monk who finished with 17 points and five steals. The junior guard also had nine steals, giving her 293 career steals which breaks Toina Coley's ECU record set in 1993. Along with Monk, Taniyah Thompson (14),Dominique Claytor (12) and Necole Hope (10) all scored in double-figures. Claytor also added 11 rebounds to complete her second double-double of the season.
Tulsa (7-19, 2-11) did not have a player reach double-figures in scoring, as Addison Richards led the Golden Hurricane with seven points. Kendrian Elliott led Tulsa with seven rebounds to go with six points.
Early on, the ECU defense was carved up by the Tulsa defense. The Golden Hurricane started the game 4-of-4 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Richards and KK Rodriguez each made a triple to help Tulsa to a 12-3 lead. Tulsa finally missed from the field, but Rodriguez added another jumper to push the lead to 16-6. Claytor was the main reason ECU's deficit was not greater, as the junior guard scored six points in the frame, including the final two to cut the lead to 16-8 after one quarter.
The second quarter though, was perhaps the best 10 minutes ECU has played all season. The Pirate defense was nearly impenetrable, as Tulsa did not make a single field goal for the entire 10 minutes and scored just two points on a pair of Elliott free throw.
On the offensive end, ECU methodically stormed back. The Pirates started the quarter on a 6-0 run, with Monk making a pair of field goals. ECU took the lead when Claytor found Hope for an open triple, putting ECU up 17-16. The run stretched to 18-0, capped by a conventional three-point play by Thompson. Elliott made her free throws with 3:05 remaining to stop the ECU run, nearly 10 minutes of play after the Golden Hurricane had last scored. ECU did not allow another Tulsa point before halftime and stretched its lead to 28-18 at the break.
The third quarter was much of the same as it took nearly another five minutes before Elliott made a layup to finally give Tulsa its first field goal in over 17 minutes.
Monk, Thompson and Hope made sure that Tulsa never got a chance to get back into the game. The trio combined for a 18 Pirate points in the third with ECU stretching its lead to as high as 17 and led 46-31 heading into the fourth period.
With ECU stretching its lead to as much as 20 in the final frame, the only suspense left in the game was whether Monk would break Coley's record or if it would have to wait for another day. The junior guard came into Wednesday needing eight to tie Coley and nine to pass her. She had two steals in the first quarter and added three more in the second. The record was in sight when she got two more in the third, giving her 291 for her career. Monk tied Coley early in the fourth quarter, picking off a pass. The record-breaker came with 3:24 to go as she took away another Tulsa pass and raced in for a layup, getting fouled in the process. A few minutes later, Monk was subbed out of the game as her teammates and the crowd celebrated her accomplishment.
The Pirates finished 23-of-61 (.377) from the field, 3-of-19 (.158) from three and 10-of-20 from the free throw line while Tulsa was 12-of-47 (.255) from the floor, 3-of-12 (.250) from beyond the arc and 15-of-23 (.652) from the charity stripe. ECU played Tulsa to a draw on the boards, with each team grabbing 40 rebounds while the Pirates had a 14-6 edge in steals and a 21-12 advantage in turnovers forced.
SMU 72, Wichita State 67
SMU rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Wichita State, 72-67, scoring the final nine points of the game against the Shockers on Wednesday night inside Koch Arena.
Trailing by as many as seven in the final period, Reagan Bradley scored all 13 of her points in the quarter providing the key spark to the Mustang comeback. After the SMU whittled the WSU lead down to one with 1:03 left, Bradley swiped Wichita in the back court before driving right to rack. Going up hard, the freshman put the Mustangs in front and drew a foul in the process. On the other end, Bradley corralled a rebound off a Shocker miss and knocked down two huge free throws to complete the comeback.
Johnasia Cash was a factor on the glass all night. The junior dropped 14 points and collected 12 boards for her 10th double-double of the season. She also finished with a pair of steals and a block.
SMU (11-14, 5-8 AAC) had its strongest shooting night of the season, knocking down 51.9 percent from the field. The Mustangs connected on 6-of-11 from downtown.
Early on, The Mustangs controlled the first quarter with strong defense and stayed on top with a solid offensive second quarter. SMU held the Shockers to eight points in the first period and scored 21 of their own in the second quarter.
Wichita State (14-12, 6-7 AAC) was able to capitalize on an 11-0 run in the middle of the third and found themselves in front for the first time. The Shockers closed the third hitting 11 of their final 13 shots to extend the lead to seven heading to the fourth.
After SMU worked the lead down to four with four to play, Reagan Bradley hit a big three coming out of timeout off a feed from Amber Bacon. Again, when Wichita State went up by three with 2:04 left, Bradley answered with another three. The two teams traded misses before WSU called timeout with 80 seconds to play. Bradley's heroics and firm defense down the stretch allowed the Mustangs to stifle the Shockers and take the game.
Bradley also managed a six-rebound, seven-assist performance and chipped in two steals.
The 72 points were the most for the Mustangs since the opening game of the season when they scored 81 on McNeese. SMU completed the season sweep of the Shockers, who are 6-5 in AAC games when not facing off with SMU.
Four Mustangs scored in double figures a long with Cash and Bradley. Bacon went for 17 to lead the team, also providing five boards and four dimes. Kayla White contributed 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting.