Saturday, February 19
UCF (RV) 68, Temple 31
The UCF women's basketball team jumped out early and never looked back in a 68-31 win over Temple in McGonigle Hall on Saturday afternoon.
UCF (20-3, 12-1 The American) held Temple (12-11, 7-5 The American) to four single digit quarters and limited the Owls to a season-low 31 points on a 23.1 field goal percentage.
The Knights scored 20 points in three of the four quarters and finished the game shooting 45.3 percent from the field.
The teams traded baskets until midway through the first quarter when the Knights put together a 12-2 run to break the game open. UCF led by as many as 16 points in the first half and took a 26-14 lead into the locker room.
Temple cut the Knights lead to 10 points in the opening minute of the third quarter, but UCF regrouped out of a timeout and held the Owls to just five points for the rest of the quarter. The Black and Gold matched their output from the first quarter in the final 10 minutes, outscoring the home team 20-8.
Three Knights finished in double figures, led by Brittney Smith's 14 points. Alisha Lewis added 12 points with six assists. Masseny Kaba extended her double digit scoring streak to eight with 11 points and had four blocks.
Saturday's win moved the Knights within one victory of clinching their first regular season title as members of the American Athletic Conference. UCF's last regular season championship came in 2005 when the Knights competed in the ASUN.
East Carolina 68, Cincinnati 57
A dominant first half helped the East Carolina women's basketball hold on for a 68-57 win at Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates improve to 11-15 overall and 4-9 in the AAC while Cincinnati drops to 10-15 this season with a 3-10 league mark.
East Carolina found early success on both ends. Offensively, the Pirates did a good job of sharing the ball, as six different ECU players scored and the Pirates had five assists on their seven field goals. Tylar Bennett and Iycez Adams set the tone in the paint, with Adams scoring a pair of layups on the offensive end and Bennett swatting two Cincinnati shots. The Pirate defense held Cincinnati to 3-of-15 (.200) shooting in the first quarter and forced nine turnovers. That allowed ECU to race out to a 18-6 lead after one.
East Carolina continued to control the game early in the second quarter. Synia Johnson scored five quick points to open the quarter and a pair of free throws by Taniyah Thompson stretched the lead to 25-8 with 8:19 in the quarter.
The Pirates could not put the finishing blow on the Bearcats though. Cincinnati got the lead to 30-22 with 4:10 remaining and looked to be getting back into the game before halftime. But the Pirates finished the half on a 10-2 run behind five points from Thompson to extend the lead back to 40-24 at the break.
In the third quarter, neither team could get much purchase. While the Pirates were looking to extend the lead and put the game away, Cincinnati was looking to get back within single digits. The ECU lead hit 10 on multiple occasions, but six points from Green, including buckets at key times, helped ECU keep Cincinnati at bay. The Pirates went into the fourth quarter leading 53-43, a good sign as ECU was 9-0 when leading after three quarters.
The start of the fourth quarter was a bad time for the ECU offense to go cold. An Alexsia Rose layup at the 8:25 mark was the only Pirate points for the first five and a half minutes of the final frame. In that time, Cincinnati was able to cut the lead all the way down to 55-53 and had a chance to go ahead on a Caitlyn Wilson triple.
Wilson's triple rimmed out and after Johnson was able to haul in the rebound, the Pirates turned to their leading scorer to regain some cushion. Thompson operated from the top of the key and was able to create space at the right elbow for a pullup jumper that found the bottom of the net, putting the lead back to four. After a pair of stops, Morgan Moseley was fouled and she knocked down a pair of free throws. Then a Green steal led to Thompson being fouled and sent to the free throw line. That was the final nail in the Bearcat coffin as Green and Thompson combined to shoot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes.
SMU 75, Tulsa 42
The SMU women's basketball team allowed its fewest points of the season, defeating Tulsa 75-42 at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday afternoon. It was the fewest points scored by Tulsa this season, with a previous low of 58 points against Temple.
Five players scored in double figures for the Mustangs (12-10, 6-4 American Athletic Conference), led by Jasmine Smith who finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Sydne Wiggins and Kayla White each scored 13 points, while Keyanna Warthen posted her second career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Reagan Bradley added 10 points, and freshman Zaria Rufus scored a season-high nine points.
The win is the 30th in the series for the Mustangs, but the first victory in Tulsa since Jan. 27, 2013. SMU had lost five straight road games in the series before the dominant performance Saturday.
After spotting Tulsa (14-8, 4-7 The American) an 8-0 lead to start the game, SMU came back to take a 14-12 lead after the first quarter. The Mustangs held Tulsa to just one field goal in the second quarter, going on a 21-2 run last the last 9:30 of the quarter. Tulsa was limited to just two free throws in two different trips to the line.
SMU scored 23 points in the second quarter and 25 in the third, while limiting the Golden Hurricane to just 23 points in the second half (12 & 13). SMU didn't allow more than 13 points in a single quarter and held Tulsa to five points in the second.
The Mustangs shot 46.8 percent for the game (29-of-62), while their lockdown defense kept Tulsa to a 22.0 shooting percentage (13-of-59). The Golden Hurricane entered the contest with five players averaging double digits scoring, but just two players scored more than six points for Tulsa. Temira Poindexter had 10 points with 10 rebounds, and Maya Mayberry also scored 10.
Wichita State 68, Memphis 61
Wichita State used a 10-0 run in the final 1:35 to pull away with a 68-61 win over Memphis Saturday afternoon in Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
Wichita State (13-12, 4-8) snapped a two-game losing streak vs. the Tigers and pushed its overall record back above the .500 mark.
Mariah McCully scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting to go with five rebounds, four assists and three steals. It marked her team-leading fourth 20-point game of the season. Asia Strong recorded her fifth straight game in double figures with 17 points. Trajata Colbert chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Seraphine Bastin scored six points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out nine assists.
Despite shooting just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc, Wichita State finished the game at 41 percent overall. The Shockers forced 20 Memphis turnovers, which led to 25 points. They outscored the Tigers 25-11 off miscues.
Coming off the UCF game where Wichita State committed 31 turnovers, they turned it over only 11 times vs. Memphis.
Wichita State raced out to an early 16-8 lead behind a red-hot 7-for-10 start from the field, but that lead would quickly vanish. Memphis responded with an 11-0 run over the final 3:06 to close the first quarter.
After 10 minutes the Tigers led 18-16.
Memphis' run would extend the second quarter to as many as 16-0 before four straight points from Strong made it 23-20.
Both teams would go cold to finish the period, as Wichita State didn't make a field goal over the final 4:43 and Memphis the last 2:24. After Wichita State's hot shooting start, they would finish at just 31 percent in the half and 0-for-4 from long range.
Memphis was just 1-of-9 from downtown and 33 percent overall but held a 28-25 halftime lead.
Strong and McCully scored 16 of Wichita State's 25 points in the first 20 minutes.
Led by McCully's nine points, Wichita State would outscore the Tigers 23-17 in the third quarter to take a 48-45 lead into the final 10 minutes. Trajata Colbert added six points in the frame and the period was capped on a corner trey by Carla Bremaud with just 16 seconds left.
With the game tied at 56 and just 1:43 remaining, Wichita State scored six straight in just over 30 seconds to take a 62-56 lead. Strong scored four of the six points followed by a Jane Asinde steal and McCully layup.
Wichita State would then push the lead to as many as 10 at the free throw line.