Temple 66, Wichita State 65
The Temple women's basketball team (12-9, 6-3 The American) defeated the Wichita State Shockers (6-16, 2-8 The American), 66-65. The Owls overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to secure the conference victory at home with a three-point buzzer beater by Tiarra East.
East led the way with 15 points, including the dramatic last play of the game. Three Owls finished in double figures in the comeback effort and all nine players contributed points.
The game was back-and-forth to the finish, as Tucker hit a mid range jumper with 0:44 remaining to tie the game at 63-63. After Wichita State hit a jump shot to take a 65-63 lead with 17 seconds to go, the Owls took the ball down the court looking to force overtime or come away with a game-winner. East did just that, converting on a three-pointer as time expired to give Temple the 66-65 victory.
Tulane 70, Charlotte 68
Amira Mabry's layup and go-ahead free throw in the final 20 seconds of the game propelled Tulane's women's basketball team (9-11, 2-7 The American) to a thrilling come-from-behind 70-68 victory over Charlotte (12-9, 5-4 The American) on Wednesday evening at Devlin Fieldhouse.
Mabry's basket came directly off the pass from Kyren Whittington, who drove the baseline off an in-bounds play, with Tulane trailing 68-66. Whittington spotted Mabry under the basket for a layup that she softly put against the glass to tie the game. Mabry was also fouled on the play and calmly knocked down the free throw to give Tulane a 69-68 lead with just over 18 seconds remaining. After a defensive stop and a made free throw from Joy Madison-Key, the Green Wave defense stiffened and held the Charlotte attack scoreless to earn the two-point victory, 70-68.
Mabry led Tulane with 21 points in shooting 7-for-10 from the field plus going 7-for-7 from the free throw line. She also had six rebounds. Whittington, in her second game back from injury, tallied 13 points, three steals, two rebounds and tied for the team lead with four assists. Irina Parau also reached double figures with 11 points to go with two rebounds and a steal. Marta Galic contributed nine points and two assists. Hannah Pratt picked up eight points, a game-high seven rebounds plus three assists and a steal. Kaylah Rainey totaled four assists. Chiara Grattini had a made three and an assist. Madison-Key also had four assists plus five points, three rebounds and three blocks.
Charlotte also had three players in double figures and were led by Dazia Lawrence's 18 points and seven assists. Tracey Hueston totaled 15 points, while Keanna Rembert racked up 10 points.
Tulane's largest lead was three points early in the first quarter, 8-5, and the team only led by just over three minutes of game time in this one. The Green Wave held the advantage in points off turnover, 21-14, points in the paint, 30-24, second chance points, 9-5, and points off the bench, 21-19. Tulane shot 46.9 percent from the field (23-for-49), 33.3 percent from three-point range (7-for-21) and 89.5 percent from the free throw line (17-for-19). The Green Wave had 26 rebounds, 20 assist, seven steals and four blocks.
Charlotte's largest advantage was nine points at the end of the first quarter, 22-13. The 49ers shot 46.8 percent from the field (22-for-47), 41.2 percent from three-point range (7-for-17) and 81 percent from the free throw line (17-for-21). Charlotte had 27 rebounds, 18 assists, six steals and four blocks.
Charlotte led by a 22-16 score after the first quarter. Tulane nearly caught all the way up in the second as they outscored the 49ers 19-16 to trail at the half by only three, 38-35. The third quarter saw Tulane cut the deficit to just two as they outscored the 49ers, 16-15. The Green Wave completed the comeback in outscoring Charlotte 19-15 in the fourth quarter, including 6-2 in the final minute of action, for the 70-68 victory.
UAB 83, Florida Atlantic 72
Kylee Schneringer scored a season-high 18 points and the women's basketball team defeated Florida Atlantic 83-72 on Wednesday night at Bartow Arena.
Schneringer led four players in double figures and connected on seven of her 10 shots, including all three 3-point attempts. Denim DeShields and Ashton Elley each had 15, while Maddie Walsh scored 14 in the win.
The Blazers (16-5, 7-2 The American) shot 52 percent from the floor and made 10-of-22 from the 3-point range. UAB was also 15-of-17 from the line. The loss drops Florida Atlantic to 6-14 overall and 1-8 in league play.
The first quarter featured six ties as neither team could pull away from each other and the score was even at 21-21 after the first 10 minutes.
With DeShields and Mia Moore both in foul trouble, UAB's bench stepped up in the second quarter by scoring 10 of the team's 20 points. The Blazers dominated the frame by outscoring the Owls 20-7 and took a 41-28 lead in the locker room.
Led by Schneringer and Elley, the Blazers made all seven of their 3-point attempts in the third quarter. UAB's lead would grow to as many as 17 in the frame and the Blazers led 11 (64-53) after three.
UAB's fourth quarter lead ballooned to 18 with two minutes to go in the contest and the Blazers are now 10-1 at Bartow Arena this season.
UTSA 75, North Texas 67
The UTSA women's basketball team used a freshman Idara Udo double-double to down a first-place North Texas squad on Wednesday, using overtime to top UNT 75-65 in American Athletic Conference action inside the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners (11-9, 5-4 The American) took down the Mean Green (17-4, 7-2 The American), handing them their first defeat since Dec. 30, 2023. The UTSA forwards were phenomenal across the contest, with Udo scoring 14 points and logging 12 rebounds, while redshirt junior Elyssa Coleman scored nine points with nine boards and four blocks.
Sophomore Sidney Love and freshman Aysia Proctor joined Udo in the double-digit scoring club, as Love charted 13 and Proctor 11. Senior Kyra White was also solid, scoring seven points to go with six assists and four rebounds. Getting in on the action, graduate student Hailey Atwood scored five, allowing her to surpass 1,000 career points across her collegiate career.
Defensively, UTSA was stellar, holding the nation's 15th-most efficient shooting team to a 29% clip, 18% under their 47.6% average. The Roadrunners collected 11 more rebounds than the opposition and performed better at the charity stripe, sinking 79% of their freebies to UNT's 68%.
Coleman and freshman Aysia Proctor each hit shots to hand UTSA an early 6-3 lead in the first quarter, but UNT answered with a triple, causing a back-and-forth battle that ended in a 16-16 tie.
White sparked a 9-0 run in the second stanza, with sophomores Alexis Parker and Cheyenne Rowe hitting shots in the streak. With UTSA now leading 29-24, UNT halted the run with a three-pointer before heading into the locker room trailing 35-28.
The Mean Green started the third quarter off hot, sinking back-to-back triples to open the frame. Love answered from downtown, seeing a 38-34 Roadrunner lead. The squads exchanged blows ahead of a 6-0 North Texas surge, ending the period with UTSA clinging to a 47-45 edge.
In the fourth, UNT used a 7-0 spurt to take a 52-49 advantage. Udo kept the 'Runners in the fight with a jumper, and later, Love and Coleman sunk shots en route to a 56-54 score line, favoring UTSA. The Mean Green again knotted things up before logging a layup that saw a 56-56 tie with a minute in regulation. Neither team could tickle the twine as the seconds ticked off, sending the contest into overtime.
The Roadrunners began the extra frame with a Proctor layup, to which UNT responded with an and-one. UTSA then went streaking as Udo converted an and-one of her own, prompting a 10-0 run that was capped off with a Proctor triple. Now up 68-59, the 'Runners coasted, cementing the 75-65 win on a pair of Love free throws.
Rice 69, SMU 60
The Rice women's basketball team used a strong fourth quarter to sweep the season series against SMU 69-60 Wednesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls move to 12-8 (6-3 The American) on the season.
Sussy Ngulefac led the Owls with 19 points, shooting 8-of-9 from the floor while adding seven rebounds, a block and an assist. Dominique Ennis added 13 points, five assists, three steals, and two rebounds, while Fatou Samb rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and three rebounds.
As a team, Rice shot 25-of-57 (43.9%) from the floor and 4-of-16 (25.0%) from three-point range. The Owls added a 15-of-22 (68.2%) showing from the free throw line. Rice held SMU to 39.3% shooting from the floor and 13.3% from three.