Saturday, Jan. 9
Highlights
No. 18/19 USF 80, Houston 51
Maria Alvarez scored a career-high 23 points with six 3-pointers and Bethy Mununga scored 12 with 14 rebounds and No. 18/19-ranked South Florida blitzed Houston after intermission on the way to an 80-51 win on Saturday.
USF (9-1, 6-0 American Athletic Conference) has won eight straight.
Alvarez, a guard from Bal Harbour, Fla., scored 14 of her 23 points in the second quarter. Mununga, a forward from Zellik, Belgium, logged her fifth double-double of the season and the 14th of her career.
With a 44-38 halftime lead, the Bulls put the clamps on Houston (5-4, 2-3 American Athletic Conference), holding the Cougars to 13 percent shooting in the third quarter (2-for-15) and outscoring them 19-5. Miya Crump was the only Cougar to score in the third as they missed 13 of 15-shot attempts.
During the final 20 minutes of the contest, USF allowed Houston to score only 13 points (five in the third quarter, eight in the fourth), which is tied for the 17th fewest points allowed in a half in a single game in program history. It also marks the second time this season that the Bulls have held a team to 13 points in a half (Tulsa, Dec. 30, 13 points, seven first quarter, six in the second).
Elisa Pinzan (Murano, Italy) scored 11 points and distributed 14 of South Florida's 22 assists. Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) and Elena Tsineke (Thessaloniki, Greece) each scored 12.
Crump scored 16 and Julia Blackshell-Fair 10 for Houston.
Temple 61, No. RV UCF 58
Despite a sluggish first quarter, the Temple women's basketball team topped UCF, 61-58, Saturday afternoon to remain undefeated in American league play. With the win, the Owls improve to 4-3 (4-0 AAC) while the Knights fall to 5-2 (3-1 AAC).
How It Happened
> Both teams started slow, with defense being the name of the game for the first quarter. Only 19 points were scored by both teams in the first.
> The Cherry and White offense found a spark heading into the second quarter, scoring immediately out of the break and going on a 12-4 run to take the lead.
> The Owls were able to earn a two-point lead at halftime (26-24), with the defense holding the Knights to 12 points in each half.
> UCF got within one after the half, but Mia Davis' three points gave Temple some breathing room.
> Th Knights cut Temple's lead to just one with less than a minute left in the game, but the Owls were able to seal the win with two pairs of free throws.
Statistically Speaking
> Jasha Clinton and Kash Ayuso both posted career-high points, with Clinton scoring 17 and Ayuso scoring seven.
> Emani Mayo's steals three steals were a season-high while Asonah Alexander's three were a career-high.
> Temple shot 34.5 percent from the field (19-of-55), while the Knights shot 43.8 percent (21-of-48).
> Davis' 19 points led both teams, while Brittney Smith's 17 led UCF.
First Quarter: UCF 12, Temple 7
> Temple took the lead early, going up 5-0 on back to back buckets from Clinton and Emani Mayo.
> Both teams looked disorganized, with the Knights recording nine turnovers and the Owls recording seven.
> UCF would score 12 of the next 14, holding the Owls to a layup from Davis.
> The Knights tied it up (7-7) with four minutes left, and took their first lead of the day on a bucket from Destiny Thomas. UCF held Temple scoreless for the last 5:41 remaining in the quarter.
Second Quarter: Temple 26, UCF 24
> The Owls' offense opened the quarter on fire, scoring immediately out of the break.
> Temple tied the game 14-14 on a three-pointer from Kash Ayuso and took the lead after going on a 12-4 run in the first four minutes of the quarter.
> UCF rallied and tied it back up 23-23, but a trey from Clinton with :30 left on the clock sealed Temple's halftime lead.
> The Cherry and White defense once again held the Knights to just 12 points, outscoring UCF 19-12.
Third Quarter: Temple 47, UCF 40
> Temple scored the first six points out of the half, going up 32-24.
> UCF went on a 7-0 run and got within one, but failed to pull ahead on a pair of missed free throws.
> Davis answered UCF's run with a layup and free throw with 6:30 left on the clock while the Owls' defense held the Knights to just one field goal in the last six minutes of the quarter.
Fourth Quarter: Temple 61, UCF 58
> UCF went on 9-5 run, pulling the score within three (52-49) at the media timeout.
> Both teams 2 minute scoring drought with 1:36 left on the clock, but a UCF layup from Alisha Lewis cut Temple's lead to just one score.
> The Knights were able to get within one point with less than a minute remaining, but a pair of free throws from Alexander and Davis put the game away.
Tulsa 72, Memphis 68
Maya Mayberry scored a season-high 28 points as Tulsa held off the Memphis Tigers Saturday afternoon for a 72-68 win at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa evened its season record to 3-3 and claimed its second straight American Athletic Conference victory for a 2-3 league mark.
Mayberry had her first 20+ scoring game in a Tulsa uniform, but the eighth in her three-year collegiate career. It's only the second game this year for a Tulsa player to reach the 20-point plateau. Mayberry finished 9-of-11 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 7-of-8 from the free throw line in 35 minutes.
"I was astounded when I saw the stats sheet and Maya had 28 points," Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "When you can get to the free throw line you can get quiet points that way, and she hit some clutch three's when the game was getting close and she had a phenomenal night."
Mayberry's younger sister, freshman Wyvette, totaled 15 points and added season-highs of 7 assists and 6 steals. Maddie Bittle added 9 points in her season-high 19 minutes.
Bittle's fast-break layup off a turnover put the Hurricane ahead 65-54 with 3:08 remaining in the contest, but the Tigers would not back down. The Hurricane was up 9 points after two Maya Mayberry free throws at the 1:07 mark.
From that point, Memphis went 4-of-5 from the field with one free throw over the next 0:35 to cut its deficit to 2 points, 70-68, with 0:19 remaining. Tulsa's Wyvette Mayberry made the second of two free throws twice in the final 0:09 to preserve the 4-point victory.
"We just couldn't' put them away. We were up by 14, but they kept coming back. They have some really physical inside kids. One of their players that comes off the bench didn't play today so it put more pressure on their bigs," said Mossman.
In the second half, Tulsa sprinted out to take a 13-point lead, 44-31, by scoring the first 8 points of the 3rd quarter, including two treys from Maya Mayberry. Following a Memphis timeout, the Tigers went on an 8-2 run to cut Tulsa's deficit to 7 points at the 5:10 mark.
The Hurricane increased its lead to a game-high 14 points on a 7-0 run late in the 3rd quarter before the Tigers scored the final 3 points. Tulsa closed out the first three quarters with a 57-46 lead.
"I thought our kids did a good job of getting down the floor. Besides the points off turnovers, what I liked too was the number of points we got in transition. We just encouraged our guys to go attack," added Mossman.
Tulsa ended the contest by shooting 47 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range. Tulsa forced 26 Memphis turnovers and scored 28 points off those turnovers. The Hurricane had a 15-3 advantage in fast-break points and a 17-4 advantage off the bench.
After a slow start to open the game, the Hurricane went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-8 lead on a 3-pointer by Wyvette Mayberry. The Tigers went on a 10-4 run before the Hurricane closed out the first quarter on a 4-0 run.
Memphis led after the first quarter, 18-17, as both teams connected on 50 percent of their field goals.
Tulsa closed out the first half on an 8-0 run, while holding the Tigers scoreless in the final 4 minutes. Mayberry scored 10 of her 14 first-half points in the second quarter as the Hurricane knocked down 67-percent of its field goals for a 19-13 scoring edge in the second period.
Tulsa's 36-31 halftime lead was the biggest lead of the first half for the Hurricane.
Tulane 68, Cincinnati 49
The Tulane women's basketball team won its third straight conference game by double-digits at Cincinnati, 68-49.
Tulane (7-3, 3-2) shot 45.8 (22-48) percent from the field, while holding Cincinnati to 32.7 (17-52) percent from the floor. The Green Wave forced 24 Cincinnati turnovers and score 28 points off the change of possession. Tulane also logged 28 rebounds and 28 points in the paint.
"We played sloppy today," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "We stayed with it. In the second half, they really tried to slow the game down a lot. We just got a little more patient on offense. We just had too many turnovers in the first half that kept us from really going on a run. Defensively, I am really proud of what we did."
Senior Krystal Freeman led the way for the Green Wave with a game-high 18 points and six rebounds. Senior Arsula Clark and junior Dynah Jones joined Freeman as the only Tulane players in double-figures with 12 and 13 points, respectively. Sophomore Salma Bates added eight points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists.
The Green Wave and the Bearcats went back-and-forth to open the third quarter. Cincinnati led 32-29 with 7:42 left to play in the third then the Green Wave clamped down on defense and went on an 18-6 run to take a 47-38 lead. The Olive and Blue forced four turnovers, three coming from shot clock violations, during the run. The Bearcats had an and-one to close the quarter to make the Tulane lead 47-41 going into the final 10 minutes.
After trading buckets to open the fourth, Tulane went on a 10-0 run to take a 63-45 lead. The Olive and Blue were able to close it out and take the 68-49 win. Junior Mia Heide grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and added six points, three steals and one block for the Olive and Blue.
Both sides started slowly to open the game with Cincinnati jumping out to an early 11-6 lead. The Green Wave were able to tie the game at 13 after the first quarter behind five straight Clark points and a jumper from sophomore Irina Parau.
After the Bearcats hit a layup, the Green Wave went on a 9-0 run to take a 22-15 lead in the second quarter. Cincinnati came back to tie the game at 26 with 46 seconds left in the half, but Freeman hit a layup late to give the Olive and Blue a two-point edge going into the break. The Green Wave shot 40.0 (10-25) percent from the field in the first half and logged eight assists on their 10 made baskets. Tulane also forced Cincinnati to commit 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Tulane held Cincinnati's leading scorer, I'Imari Thomas, to nine points on 3-16 shooting. Thomas came into the game ranked fourth in the nation and leading the conference in scoring at 27.1 points per game. This was the first game in the 2020-21 season Thomas did not score at least 23 points. Freshman Jillian Hayes led the Bearcats with 16 points and eight rebounds.