East Carolina 68, SMU 61
Danae McNeal scored a career high 35 points and made all 15 of her attempts from the free throw line as the East Carolina women's basketball team surged late to down SMU, 68-61, on Saturday in Minges Coliseum. McNeal and the Pirates compiled a 50-percent clip from three and made 80 percent of their free throws en route to their third conference win.
The Pirates (10-7, 3-3 The American) jumped out to an early 10 point lead in the game as Morgan Moseley came out of the gates with fire on her fingertips, making two first-quarter three balls to lead the Pirates to a 16-6 first quarter lead. SMU (8-10, 2-5 The American), responded in kind, making a 10-0 run of their own to tie the game after 10 minutes of action. It would be the longest run for the Mustangs in the game, however, as ECU responded to take a three-point edge into the break and held the edge for 29:18 of game time on the day.
It was a low scoring game in a return to tradition for the Pirates as both teams turned the ball over 25 times with 14 steals per side. Karina Gordon had six of those steals on her own with five of them coming in the first half alone - part of the reason the Pirates would take that lead into the halftime break.
After the 10-0 run early, the third quarter was SMU's best stretch of the game. They took the period, 19-11, to take the lead into the third quarter; but the Pirates never seemed out of it like they had at times during their three-game skid. Instead, the Pirates looked calm and composed and came into the fourth quarter looking like a team that simply would not be denied the win.
Leading that charge was McNeal, who became the 25th player in program history to score 1,000 points in a Pirate uniform on Saturday. The graduate guard scored 17 points in the fourth quarter alone, shooting 11-11 from the foul line thanks to not only SMU's late fouls, but her earlier attacking play.
A prime example of the kinds of plays that propelled the Pirates to the win was this one with under 8:00 remaining. A full team effort with bodies hitting the floor and McNeal eventually finishing a massive and-one.McNeal also eventually scored the game-winning bucket, a slashing score assisted by Amiya Joyner with 1:34 remaining in the game. From there, the Pirates held serve defensively with Bobbi Smith contributing a huge rebound and Tatyana Wyche a crucial steal with under a minute to play. The constant down that final stretch: McNeal being absolutely money from the charity stripe.
Her final total of 15-15 is a new program record for most free throws without a miss in a single game. The previous record, held by ECU Hall of Famer Gaynor O'Donnell at 14-14, had stood since Feb. 15, 1992.
Tulsa 93, Wichita State 70
Temira Poindexter's career-high 31 points led Tulsa to a 93-70 American Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon over the Wichita State Shockers at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Poindexter's performance wasn't the only career-breaking outing for the Hurricane. Ahrray Young had her first career double-double with 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Amira Brown had her first career double-figuring scoring game with a career-best 19 points on 7-of-7 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range and 23-of-6 from the free throw line.
The stat-line for Poindexter, a Sapulpa, Okla. native, read 11-of-18 from the field, 6-of 12 from three-point range, 3-of-5 from the free throw line, eight rebounds, one assist, one block and just one turnover.
Crawford added 19 points, five rebounds and a team-high seven rebounds.
Tulsa (14-5, 4-2 The American) led from start to finish and by as many as 27 points at various parts of the game. Wichita State (6-13, 2-5 The American) also had four double-digit scorers while Daniela Abies led the way for the Shockers with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hurricane sprinted out to a double-digit lead in the first 6:12 of the game and for a good portion of the first quarter and the remainder of the game led by double-figures as Tulsa doubled the Shockers in the first 10 minutes with a 30-15 lead after one period.
Tulsa's 30 first quarter points was a season high for a period as the Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field and 50-percent from three-point range.
After Tulsa took a 12-point lead on Crawford's three-pointer at the 0:32 mark of the second quarter the Hurricane kept its double-digit lead the remainder of the contest.
Tulsa built its first 27-point lead in the second quarter and finished the first half with a 23- point advantage and a halftime score of 56-33. The Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field, 56-percent from three-point range and 73-percent from the charity stripe.
Poindexter led all first-half scorers with 18 points followed by Crawford and Young with 15 each.
After a slow start after halftime, the Hurricane ended the third quarter on a 10-2 run over the final 3:35 to take a 75-50 lead heading into the final period. Tulsa's lead in the final quarter didn't drop under 21 points and was as high as 27 three times.
Tulsa held a 46-31 edge in rebounding, including a 10-8 advantage on the offensive boards. The Hurricane dished out 20 assists for its 31 field goals made and had a season-high 14 three-pointers on 46.7 percent shooting from behind the arc.
Rice 61, Tulane 44
The Rice women's basketball team built a lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the Owls defeated Tulane 61-44 Saturday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. The Owls move to 11-6 (5-1 The American) on the season.
Dominique Ennis led the Owls with 16 points, five rebounds and a block, while Malia Fisher added 14 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists. Destiny Jackson finished with 14 points, five assists, three rebounds and a block, while Maya Bokunewicz rounded out the Rice double-digit scorers with 10 points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal.
As a team, Rice shot 24-of-49 (49.0%) from the floor and 6-of-17 (35.3%) from three-point range. Rice added a 7-of-9 (77.8%) showing from the free throw line. The Owls limited Tulane to 19-of-56 (33.9%) shooting from the floor and 4-of-18 (22.2%) shooting from three-point range.
Memphis 76, Florida Atlantic 56
After winter weather impacts on campus and the Elma Roane Fieldhouse forced the University of Memphis women's basketball team to move to FedExForum, the Tigers did all the right things today to claim the 76-56 win over Florida Atlantic.
This is the first time Memphis women's basketball has played in FedExForum since 2015 and its first win since Feb. 24, 2013.
Following today's game, Memphis moves to 6-12 overall and 2-5 in The American.
The Tigers shot lights out to start the game, going 12-16 from the field and 4-6 from long range.
Layken Cox put Memphis out to a quick 6-1 run after three consecutive possessions of lay-ups for the junior. Four combined three-pointers from Alasia Smith, Madison Griggs and Ki'Ari Cain gave the Tigers a fast 22-4 lead with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter.
Along with their offensive onslaught, Memphis forced Florida Atlantic into five turnovers in the opening 10 minutes.
The Tigers finished the final five minutes of the first quarter on a 14-4 run to take a dominating 28-8 lead into the second frame.
It was all Memphis again in the second quarter; while the Owls cut minutely into the Tiger lead, Jana Sallman capped off an 11-0 run to end the half gave Memphis its largest lead of the half and the 50-21 advantage heading into the break.
Kai Carter went crazy in the third quarter going a perfect 5-5 from beyond the arc and putting the Tigers up by as much as 36. Carter went on to score 11 of her game-high 19 points during the quarter in route to giving the Tigers the 67-36 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
While Florida Atlantic outscored Memphis 20-9 in the final frame, the Tiger lead was enough to fend off the Owls. Memphis cruised to the 76-56 win behind 10 players scoring today.
Kai Carter led all players with 19 points while going 7-14 from the field and 5-7 from long range. Madison Griggs added in 14 points while Alasia Smith picked up a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Today's first half was the first time since Dec. 8, 2022, that the Tigers scored more than 50 points in a half. The Tigers also notched 10 three-pointers for the second time this season.
North Texas 65, South Florida 61
The UNT women's basketball team defeated South Florida, 65-61, in an instant classic Saturday night inside the Yuengling Center.
A game that was nearly dead even for 40 minutes came down to two Shamaryah Duncan 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give North Texas a 64-61 lead with 43 seconds left. The Mean Green would hold USF on the ensuing possession and DesiRay Kernal would knock down a free throw to make it a two-possession game and seal the victory.
The back-and-forth game featured 10 lead changes and eight ties, while neither team led by more than five the entire game.
The teams were tied 13-13 at the end of the first quarter and 24-24 going into halftime. At the break, the Mean Green were shooting 36.0%, while South Florida had a mark of 30.3% from the field. Entering the game the Bulls averaged 21 3-point attempts per game, but had 16 attempts in the first half. They would finish 6-of-28 from behind the arc.
Tommisha Lampkin imposed her will on the South Florida defense in the third quarter. The conference's leader in field goal percentage had 10 points in the quarter on 4-of-4 shooting, including a 6-0 run herself. She would finish with 19 points and eight rebounds.
South Florida went up 48-46 in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. From there, the teams would go back-and-forth in the final 10 minutes, but the Mean Green would hold USF to 1-of-7 down the stretch. Kernal came up clutch from the free-throw line going 5-of-5 from the charity stripe in the quarter. Kernal finished the night with 20 points and six rebounds.
North Texas was able to contain USF's leading scorer, Vittoria Blasigh, who entered the game averaging 15.5 points per game. Blasigh was limited to five points, tying her season low, on 2-of-13 shooting. The Bulls were led by Romi Levy who had a game-high 27 points.
With the win, North Texas improved to 15-3 on the season and gained a share of the conference lead with a 5-1 record in American Athletic Conference play.