Saturday, Jan. 30
Tulane 80, Temple 44
The Tulane University women's basketball team defeated Temple, 80-44, in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse this afternoon.
Tulane (9-5, 5-4) outshot Temple (5-6, 5-3), .557-.302 from the field and out-rebounded the Owls 40-29. The Green Wave recorded 10 steals and forced 17 Temple turnovers. Tulane capitalized on the turnovers by scoring 20 points off the change of possession.
"Defense was the key," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "In the second quarter, they shot almost 67 percent, which closed the gap. Our offense was good every quarter. Our percentages were good, and we were not turning the ball over. It really came down to picking up our defensive intensity."
After trailing 35-34 at the half, Tulane took over in the second half, outscoring the Owls 46-9. Freshman guard Jerkaila Jordan led all scorers and tied her career-high with 22 points, without playing in the fourth quarter for rest.
The freshman guard also logged four rebounds, four assists and five steals, while shooting 10-14 from the field. Junior forward Mia Heide added career-highs of 13 points and four assists. She also led the Green Wave with seven rebounds. Sophomore Anijah Grant also registered career-highs with six points and seven rebounds.
Tulane started the second half in a 2-3 zone and immediately went on a 14-2 run, taking a 48-37 lead with 5:50 to go in the quarter. This run was part of a bigger 24-0 run by the Wave that spanned from 8:53 mark to 2:27 mark in the third. The Green Wave stretched the lead to 23, leading 64-41 after three quarters. Heide led the Wave with eight points in the period.
After a dominant third quarter, Tulane did not take the foot off the gas. The Olive and Blue outscored Temple 16-3, getting contributions from Grant (six points and seven rebounds) and senior guard Kaila Anderson (six points).
The Green Wave outscored Temple 44-22 in the paint, 10-3 on second chance points, 19-4 on the fast break and 16-12 from the bench.
Tulane jumped out the gate hot, starting the game on a 12-4 run shooting 5-7 from the field in the first four minutes. Junior guard Dynah Jones scored eight points in the first quarter, including two threes. The Green Wave shot the ball at a 57.1 percent clip in the first quarter, which led to a 21-16 lead going into the second period.
Temple battled back using a 12-6 run to take the lead with 5:26 left in the second quarter. Temple led 35-34 at the break.
Jordan led all scorers at the half with 16 points. She also contributed four rebounds and three steals in the opening 20 minutes.
Mia Davis led the Owls with 14 points and Alexa Williamson added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Tulsa 68, East Carolina 59
Rebecca Lescay recorded her first career double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds to give Tulsa a 68-59 win over ECU on Saturday afternoon at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, N.C. The Golden Hurricane moved to 5-6 on the season and 4-6 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Pirates fell to 5-10 overall and 3-7 in the league.
This was Lescay's career-best rebounding performance for her first-ever double-figure game, and her 24th double-digit scoring contest.
"The stats say she has a double-double, but what they don't say is how tough she is and the fact that she guarded so well," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "It was a complete, all-around game for her. She is a kid that can play 35-40 minutes. It was great for her confidence and great to see a kid that has been here for four years and been the heart and soul of the team to have a game like she did today."
Maya Mayberry added 13 points, while Wyvette Mayberry scored 11 and Jessika Evans posted 10 points. Desiree Lewis had team-bests of four assists, four steals and one block.
"I'm excited that we had four people in double figures," Mossman said. "I like the balance and different people scoring because it makes us harder to guard. We held them to 39-percent for the game, and we made them take some bad shots and took them out of rhythm. My only negative on tonight is our free throw percentage. We got the line 27 times and that is great, but we have to make free throws."
For the game, TU shot 43-percent from the field, 26-percent from three-point range and just 48-percent (13-of-27) from the free throw line, while ECU was 39-percent from the field, 33-percent from behind the arc and 56-percent from the line.
Tulsa had a 21-10 advantage in points off turnovers, a 12-6 lead in steals and a 14-12 edge in assists, while ECU had a narrow 41-40 advantage in rebounds and a 13-10 lead in second chance points.
Tulsa got out to a 12-6 lead over ECU at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter, but three TU turnovers led to the Pirates pulling to within two, 12-10, at the 4:48 mark. The media timeout was called seconds later and from that point on the Hurricane outscored ECU, 11-2, to close out the frame with a 23-12 advantage.
The Pirates battled back and pulled to within five, 29-24, at the 3:09 mark of the second quarter, but two free throws made by Evans and a free throw by Maya Mayberry gave TU a 32-24 lead at halftime.
After a shooting a very solid 71.4-percent from the field to start the game (10-of-14), TU turned cold in the second quarter hitting just 15.4-percent (2-of-13). ECU hit 40-percent of their attempts in the first quarter and 38.5-percent in the second.
TU outscored ECU, 16-13, in the third quarter to own a 48-37 advantage with one period to play, but the Pirates had a 22-20 edge in the fourth quarter but it wasn't enough to close their deficit as Tulsa earned the nine-point win.
ECU was led by Taniyah Thompson with 13 points, while Sierra DaCosta and Dominique Claytor both added 10 points.