East Carolina 82, UTSA 54
The East Carolina women's basketball took a beating to the UTSA Roadrunners, 82-54, in the Pirates' conference opener on Tuesday night in Minges Coliseum. Four Pirates scored in double figures with Karina Gordon, Danae McNeal, Tatyana Wyche and Taliyah Wyche having fabulous games.
In the first half, it was Gordon's world and everyone else was just living in it. The freshman guard, thrust into the starting point guard spot with the absence of Micah Dennis, was on a heater from the jump, hitting three of her three attempts from behind the arc before the teams even reached the first media timeout. Gordon herself led at that break five minutes into the game, and the Pirates (8-4, 1-0 The American) led overall 11-7.
Gordon would keep it rolling, knocking down two more triples in the first half as she went into the break with a game-high 17 points on 5-7 from downtown.
Gordon was hardly the only star of the game, nor even of the first half. Tatyana Wyche was absolutely tremendous and tirelessly relentless in the game as she went into the halftime break with seven points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Wyche and her twin sister, Taliyah, showed the skill that made them highly touted recruits out of the state of Florida, both finishing with 10+ points and 8+ rebounds. Taliyah, to her credit, put up 11 points in the game to go with eight assists, nearly missing a double-double. She got it done throughout the game, grabbing five rebounds in the first half and scoring eight points in the second half.
Taliyah Wyche was also a part of the run that broke the game open for good. The Pirates were on a tear from behind the arc in the second quarter, and Wyche earned the capper, the first made three of her career, followed up by a fast break bucket to give the Pirates a 15-1 run. By the time the spurt finally ended, it was an 18 point game and the Pirates were on their way, leading by as many as 29 in the contest.
UTSA (6-7, 0-2The American) struggled to take care of the ball in the game, turning it over 29 times, and the Roadrunners were unable to show their usual dominance on the glass, finishing with only a 42-40 margin on the glass. That result was thanks in large part to the work of the Wyche twins who accounted for 21 of their own.
Speaking of, Tatyana Wyche was simply dominant at times in the game, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds on the game. It was her first career double-double.
In the second half, UTSA was forced to adjust and try to take away Karina Gordon - though, she did hit one more three in the second half, tied for the most in a game in ECU history by a freshman. By taking away the offense of Gordon, it left the sliver of room Danae McNeal needed to take charge. The graduate guard got hot, finishing the game with 20 points, six assists and six steals, consistently showing her usual dominance on the defensive end of the floor where she is top-10 nationally in steals.
Though she didn't score as much in the second, Gordon was still a major contributor. The Hallandale Beach, Fla. native finished the game with seven assists to go with her career-best and game-high 22 points.
Most importantly, the win makes ECU 1-0 in American Athletic Conference play as they officially begin the defense of their 2023 league title.
North Texas 74, Temple 63
The UNT women's basketball team took down Temple, 74-63, for its first American Athletic Conference victory Tuesday night in the Liacouras Center.
After dropping consecutive games for the first time this season, the Mean Green got back to their winning ways to improve to 1-1 in the conference and 11-3 on the season, which matches the entire win total from a season ago.
Tommisha Lampkin recorded her third double double of the season in the win with 20 points and 10 rebounds. She also went 8-of-10 from the free throw line after going 0-of-9 from the charity stripe against Charlotte.
Lampkin led the Mean Green to an early lead with six first-quarter points. An 8-0 run for the Mean Green gave them their first lead of the game and they never looked back.
Temple came into the contest leading the American and ranked fourth nationally in offensive rebounds per game. While the Owls reached their season average of 17 in the game, North Texas outrebounded them overall by 17. UNT also held a 10-point advantage in the paint, outscoring Temple, 40-30 in that category.
Following Lampkin, DesiRay Kernal nearly recorded another double double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Dyani Robinson also added 13 points and three rebounds. The pair of Texas A&M-Commerce transfers also both surpassed 1,500 career points Tuesday.Coming out of halftime, North Texas held a 40-31 lead, and built that lead as high as 22 points in the third quarter. The Owls would rally in the fourth quarter to cut UNT's lead down to eight with 2:05 left in the game, but the Mean Green would knock down their free throws to seal the win. North Texas shot a season-high 80% from the free throw line in the game, converting 20-of-25 attempts.
Tulsa 72, Tulane 54
Tulsa improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play with a 72-54 home win over the Tulane Green Wave Tuesday night in front of 1,031 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Temira Poindexter, Ahrray Young and Delanie Crawford combined for 61 of Tulsa's 72 points. Poindexter had a game-high 24 points, Young added 20 and Crawford dropped in 17 points for the Hurricane
It was Poindexter's ninth 20+ scoring game this season and 24th for her career as she moved in eighth place on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,133 career points. The sophomore Young had her first 20-point scoring game of her career.
Tulane fell to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in league play. The win snapped an eight-game Green Wave winning streak in the series.
The Hurricane jumped out to a 5-0 lead and led for the entire game. Tulsa built an eight-point halftime lead at 34-26 as Poindexter and Young combined for 29 of Tulsa's 34 first half points. Poindexter tallied 17 and Young had 12.
Tulsa built its largest lead of 23 points in the fourth quarter, while Tulane only could get as close as 15 points in the period.
For the game, Tulsa held Tulane to 30.8 percent from the field and 24 percent from behind the arc, while the Hurricane shot 49 percent overall and 39 percent from three-point range.