Wednesday, December 8
Tulane 91, Troy 84
A historic night by redshirt senior Moon Ursin led the Tulane University women's basketball team to a hard-fought 91-84 win over Troy on Wednesday night inside of Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. Ursin became the first player in Tulane program history to record a triple-double finishing with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the contest.
Four of five starters for the Wave came posted double figures in scoring. Krystal Freeman led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds while Arsula Clark tallied 20 points and eight assists and Mia Heide posted 12 points and seven rebounds. Meanwhile, Ursin added her historic triple-double to the box score for Tulane.
A back-and-forth battle ensued between the Green Wave and the Trojans with the score remaining tight throughout the first quarter. The two teams would tie it up at 17 a piece before Troy would make the final push of the quarter to hold the lead at 26-25 after the first ten minutes.
In the second quarter, the Trojans stretched their advantage out to six points, but that did not deter the Green Wave. Tulane chipped away at the deficit with a quick jumper from Heide and a pair of free throws by Ursin to pull two at 39-37. The Trojans pushed back once again expanding their lead to six and heading into the locker room up 47-41.
The second half began with five quick points from Ursin to bring the Wave within one before Tulane back-to-back buckets by Freeman and Dynah Jones tied the game at 50 apiece. From there Tulane and Troy traded buckets until the Green Wave scored eight unanswered points to pull ahead 60-52. The lead wouldn't change for the rest of the quarter as Tulane would hold the advantage 67-62 heading into the final ten minutes of action.
The grit from the Green Wave would be on display in the fourth quarter, holding down the fort as the Trojans came knocking once again. Troy would be quick to cut down Tulane's lead and go up one at 70-69 less than three minutes into the final quarter. Tulane returned with its own response tying it at 80 with under three minutes less to play. Less than a minute after bringing the score even, a Trojan turnover would lead to Ursin's tenth assist of the game, sealing her spot in the Tulane history books with the first triple-double in program history. The assist sparked an 8-0 run that would help secure the Green Wave's 91-84 victory over Troy.
Tulsa 86, Missouri S&T 53
Tulsa moved to 7-0 on the season Wednesday night with an 86-53 victory over the Missouri S&T Miners at the Donald W. Reynolds Center as four Golden Hurricane players scored in double digits. Temira Poindexter and Wyvette Mayberry shared the team-lead with 19 points, Jessika Evans added 12 and Delanie Crawford had 11.
The 7-0 start to the season ties the school record that was established in the 2004-05 season. Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center this Saturday at 1 p.m. against Central Arkansas looking to set a new season-opening winning streak.
"I am so proud of our players for how hard they worked," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "We were trying find our rhythm as a team and we had a few glitches but we stayed with it. Wyvette and Temira led our scoring with 19 each, but we had balanced scoring and a balanced attack. It was huge that we had 25 assists and only four turnovers so I'm proud of how we did on the offensive end and how we took care of the ball. We were also so excited to not allow an offensive rebound. Rebounding has been huge for us and I thought we showed some fight in the paint tonight."
The Hurricane, playing without leading scorer Maya Mayberry, shot 45 percent from the field and 31 percent from behind the arc. Tulsa had a season-high 25 assists, just three shy of the school record, a school record low four turnovers and outrebounded the Miners by 22 (43-21), while not allowing the Miners an offensive rebound.
All nine Tulsa players scored in the game as the Hurricane had a 24-2 edge in fast-break points, 34-18 advantage in the paint, 20-0 in second-chance points and 17-5 off turnovers.
Missouri S&T had a good shooting night, making 50 percent of its field goals and converting 35 percent from three-point range. The Miners were led by Jada Lindesmith's 14 points.
Tulsa scored the first five points of the second half to increase its 41-30 halftime lead to 15 points at 45-30. Missouri S&T cut the Hurricane lead to eight points, 45-27, at the 5:48 mark of the third quarter. Tulsa closed out the third period outscoring the Miners 15-7 in the final five minutes for a 60-44 scored after three quarters.
The Hurricane pushed its lead to 20 points when Poindexter scored on a layup at the 8:15 mark of the fourth quarter and it was Mayberry's jumper that put the home team ahead by 25 points, 76-51, with 4:51 remaining in the game. Tulsa reached the 30-point margin at 83-53 with 1:37 left on a Lexie Foutch put-back layup.
Tulsa's largest lead of 33 points was the final score, 86-53, as Crawford made two free throws at the 0:30 mark to close out the scoring.
Tulsa jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game as four different Hurricane players scored in the early going, then MS&T scored the next four points. Tulsa extended its lead to 21-11 by scoring the final five points of the first quarter.
Maddie Bittle and Madi Washington had six and five points, respectively, to lead the Hurricane in the first quarter. Tulsa had a 12-0 advantage for fast-break points in the first 10 minutes.
The Hurricane took its largest lead of 19 points when Mayberry knocked down a three-pointer at the 6:54 mark. Tulsa began the second half on a 13-2 run and led 34-15 with 5:27 remaining when Delanie Crawford scored on a jumper.
Tulsa led by 19 points for a total of four times in the second period before the Miners scored the final eight points of the first half, cutting Tulsa's lead at intermission to 41-30.
Mayberry led all first-half scorers with 12 points, while Temira Poindexter led with six rebounds and Rebecca Lescay had a high of five assists in the first 20 minutes.