Wednesday, Feb. 3
Houston 64, Tulsa 56
The University of Houston Women's Basketball (10-5, 6-4 American) team won its second straight game and swept its season series with Tulsa (5-7, 4-7 American) via a 64-56 win over the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday afternoon at the Reynolds Center.
Houston had four double-digit scorers led by a 16-point effort from freshman Laila Blair, in addition to a career-high seven rebounds. Miya Crump, Britney Onyeje and Jazmaine Lewis each posted nine rebounds, as all three were one rebound shy of a double-double. Crump led Houston with five assists.
Onyeje also posted a career-high in rebounds as her and Blair hit two three-pointers each, including the 100th three-pointer of the season for UH.
Tulsa was led in scoring by Rebecca Lescay with 19 points.
Houston scored the opening bucket of the game, but trailed, 9-6 at the first media timeout after Onyeje hit the 100th three-pointer of the season for the Cougars. Both teams struggled offensively as the quarter winded down. A floater at the buzzer by Onyeje helped the Cougars closeout the frame facing a seven-point deficit.
Back-to-back three's from Gladney and Sidney helped the Cougars get going in the second quarter. UH held Tulsa scoreless for over two minutes leading up to the second quarter media timeout. Houston embarked on a 7-0 run with the help of baskets from Lewis and Blair to get within two by the time the media timeout rolled around. Freshman forward, Kamryn Jones found a rhythm off the bench with back-to-back buckets including one to give UH its second lead of the game. UH headed into the halftime break with 29-28 advantage.
Both teams battled for the lead in the first half of the third quarter. Blair hit a three-pointer to give UH the lead, before back-to-back made baskets from Tulsa lifted them to a 40-36 advantage. Houston fought back with tough defense and strong play at the rim. Lewis and Blair combined for 13 of the Cougars 17 points score prior to the third quarter media pause, helping UH take a 46-42 lead with two minutes remaining in the frame.
The Cougars continued to outscore Tulsa in the fourth quarter, as both teams struggled from the field. UH would take its first double-digit lead of the game when Onyeje flew through the lane for a rebound and put back. Crump found her mid-range shot late in the game hitting each of her field goals in the final 10 minutes of play. Houston completed its second straight comeback, ultimately securing a 64-56 win and sweeping the season series with Tulsa.
Tulane 57, Wichita State 55
The Tulane University women's basketball team defeated Wichita State, 57-55, on the road, Wednesday afternoon.
Tulane (11-5, 7-4) made a point to get to the free throw line shooting 19-27 (.704) on the day, while Wichita State (4-7, 1-5) was 4-6 (.667) from the charity stripe. The Green Wave logged 35 rebounds, nine assists and six steals on the game. The Olive and Blue held the Shockers to 15.0 (3-20) percent shooting from three and 35.3 (24-68) percent from the field.
"They have their preseason all-conference player back and they've got some really good players back on the court," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "We knew it was going to be a really physical game, so it is definitely a game we are really glad to have."
Freshman JerKaila Jordan led the Green Wave with 18 points. She added three rebounds and two assists. Senior Krystal Freeman and junior Mia Heide both led the Olive and Blue with seven rebounds. Heide chipped in 10 points and tied her career-high with five blocks, while Freeman logged seven.
The Shockers maintained a one-point lead for the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter until Jordan knocked down two free throws to give the Green Wave a 52-51 advantage with 1:26 to play. The Shockers responded with a layup then Jordan hit an and-one layup to give Tulane a 55-53 lead with 55.4 seconds to play. Wichita State hit a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 55.
On Tulane's next possession, senior Arsula Clark grabbed an offensive rebound and hit two free throws to put the Green Wave up 57-55 with 24.4 seconds to play. Heide blocked a Wichita State attempt at the rim to force Shockers to take the ball out-of-bounds with nine seconds to play. The Green Wave were able to stop the Shockers on the next possession and solidify the win.
Clark registered 11 points, six rebounds and two assists on the day for the Green Wave. She shot 7-9 from the free throw line.
Both teams traded baskets to open the game then the Shockers went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-8 lead with 1:51 left in the first quarter. The Green Wave cut Wichita State's lead to 16-12 headed into the second period. The Green Wave opened the second quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 17-16 lead. The teams traded blows the rest of the way with the Olive and Blue taking a 27-26 lead into halftime.
Clark led the Green Wave with eight points, while Jordan chipped in six in the first half. Freeman logged a team-high six rebounds in the first half. As a team, Tulane went 10-13 from the free throw line in the first half.
The Shockers outrebounded the Green Wave 49-35. Seraphine Bastin led Wichita State with 14 points, while Trajata Colbert added 11 points and 16 rebounds.
Temple 69, Cincinnati 53
Junior forwarded Alexa Williamson scored a career-best 21 points as the Temple women's basketball team topped Cincinnati 69-53 Wednesday evening at Fifth Third Arena. The Owls improved to 6-7 (6-4 AAC) while the Bearcats fell to 3-10 (2-7 AAC).
How It Happened
> Temple shot 40% (24-60) from the floor as they scored 40 of their 69 points in the paint.
> The Owls never allowed Cincinnati to take the lead besides the opening two minutes of the game.
> The Bearcats worked towards a comeback in the third quarter when they tied the game 42-42, but Temple answered with two-straight buckets to put themselves back on top.
> Cincinnati held the edge on the boards, pulling down 43 rebounds to the Owls' 38.
Statistically Speaking
> Williamson added five rebounds, three steals, three blocks and an assist to her impressive stat line.
> Freshman Jasha Clinton poured in 18 points while adding a career-high eight rebounds, five assists and a steal.
> Senior Mia Davis added 17 points as she moved into fifth in program history in career points with 1,702 as she passed WNBA All-Star Candice Dupree's mark of 1,689. Davis' eight rebounds put her past 900 career boards with a total of 906. The forward is chasing down Dupree's fourth-place record of 940.
> Sophomore Asonah Alexander rounded out the box score with her nine points, eight boards, four assists and two blocks.
First Quarter: Temple 21, Cincinnati 13
> Temple scored their first nine points from the free throw line as the Bearcats committed seven fouls in the first five minutes of the game.
> The Owls then went on a 6-0 run to take a 15-6 lead with 3:28 left in the opening frame.
> Cincinnati was only able to come within six points before the Owls extended their lead to eight at the end of the first 10 minutes.
> Temple finished the first quarter shooting 45.5% (5-11) from the floor and 78.6% (11-14) from the foul line.
Second Quarter: Temple 36, Cincinnati 29
> Despite Cincinnati outscoring Temple 16-15 in the second quarter, the Bearcats were still unable to come within more than six points.
> Temple went on a 6-0 run to go up by as many as 14 points.
> However, the Bearcats ended the half on a 7-0 run with the Owls going scoreless after the 3:37 mark.
Third Quarter: Temple 54, Cincinnati 47
> Caitlyn Wilson came out and hit back-to-back threes for Cincinnati to start the second half.
> Arame Niang knocked down a trey followed by a second-chance layup on the next possession to tie it at 42.
> The Owls quickly responded on the opposite end with back-to-back buckets from Williamson.
> However, another triple from Cincinnati's Wilson cut Temple's lead to one with 2:49 to go in the frame.
> Temple then finished the quarter on a 6-0 run capped off by a big three from Clinton to hold a 54-47 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
Fourth Quarter: Temple 69, Cincinnati 53
> The Owls outscored Cincinnati 15-6 in the final frame to walk away with the win.
> Davis led Temple with six points in the last 10 minutes of action.
> The Bearcats committed eight turnovers, giving the Owls seven points off turnovers.