Charlotte 65, Memphis 56
The Charlotte women's basketball team (14-11, 7-6 The American) got back in the win column on Wednesday (Feb. 14) as they defeated the Memphis Tigers (8-15, 4-8 The American) by a score of 65-56 inside Halton Arena.
Dazia Lawrence impressed once again inside Halton Arena as she finished with 30 points and nine rebounds on an efficient 12-for-20 shooting. Lawrence also led the team in rebounding with nine, while Jacee Busick finished with seven. Keanna Rembert played a great defensive game in the paint, contesting several Memphis shots throughout the night. Offensively, she finished in double figures with 13 points and three rebounds. Olivia Porter led the team with three blocked shots while adding six points and three assists. With the absence of Imani Smith, Nia Young stepped up for the Niners by playing 28 minutes and making an impact on both ends of the floor.
For the fifth time this season, Charlotte shot over 50% in a game, finishing tonight at 23-for-44 (52.3%). In such games, the 49ers are 5-0. When Dazia Lawrence scores 20+ points within conference play, Charlotte is 6-0. In games where she is below the 20-point mark, the Niners are 1-6.
Charlotte scored 36 points in the paint and created 16 points off turnovers. The Niners maintained control of the game throughout, leading for 32:54 of the 40 minutes. One struggle for CLT tonight proved to be free throw shooting, finishing at 17-for-28 (60.7%) including missing six of the first eight attempts.
SMU 63, Tulane 53
Amirah Abdur-Rahim and Chantae Embry both scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the SMU women's basketball team defeated Tulane 63-53 on Wednesday night in Devlin Fieldhouse.
SMU (12-12; 6-7 American Athletic Conference) led for 36 minutes. The Mustangs outrebounded Tulane 37-25 and registered 13 more second-chance points. SMU dominated inside, outscoring the Green Wave 42-20 in the paint.
Reagan Bradley scored 13 points, grabbed six boards, passed out three assists, and recorded a steal. Tiara Young logged six points, five rebounds, and two assists. Maya Chandler tallied five points and two boards, and TK Pitts finished with six points, one rebound, two assists, and two steals. Donavia Hall scored three points, grabbed three rebounds, and tied her career-high with two steals. Freshman Shanel Reid chipped in two rebounds.
Bradley scored one and assisted Embry on two straight buckets to spark six unanswered to take complete control of the game in the fourth. An 8-0 highlighted by a three-pointer from Bradley followed by an and-one from Embry put the Mustangs up 11 at the end of the third quarter.
The Mustangs led 36-32 at halftime after a back-and-forth second quarter. SMU went up 11 after a 9-0 run midway through the first period. SMU led by nine entering the second period after forcing seven turnovers and finishing the first shooting 57.1% (8-14) from the field.
Temple 86, UAB 72
The Temple Women's Basketball team (14-10, 8-4 The American) defeated the UAB Blazers (17-8, 8-5 The American), 86-72, on the road in the first ever matchup between the two schools.
An impressive first half, in which the Owls shot 60.7% from the field, gave the Owls an early advantage that would carry on to a conference road victory. Aleah Nelson impressed for the Cherry & White, finishing with a season-high 24 points, which ties the most points scored by an Owl in a game this season. Temple's offense played efficiently, as four Owls finished in double figures.
North Texas 67, Florida Atlantic 57
Tommisha Lampkin's third double double in-a-row led UNT women's basketball team to a 67-57 victory over Florida Atlantic Wednesday night in Boca Raton.
Lampkin led the Mean Green with 20 points and 12 rebounds, including nine offensive boards against the Owls. It marks her eighth double double of the season, which is tied for the fifth most in a single season by a Mean Green player since 2000.
The first half consisted of runs by both teams, but UNT ended the half on top, 35-23. Dyani Robinson was second behind points behind in Lampkin with 18 total and had 10 of those in the first half. The Mean Green dominated the paint against the Owls, outscoring them 22-11 in the first half and 46-18 over the course of the game.
Coming out of half, North Texas went on a 14-0 run spanning over six minutes, which was the largest of the game by either team. The Mean Green defense held Florida Atlantic without a point for seven minutes and to six points in the entire quarter, tying the second-lowest point total allowed in a quarter this season.
It looked like UNT had the game wrapped up with a 51-29 lead at the end of the third, but FAU exploded for 28 points in the fourth quarter behind six 3-pointers. Alexa Zaph hit four of those 3-pointers in the quarter to give her 12 of her 18 points to lead the Owls. It was the second-most points given up by North Texas in a quarter this season, only behind the 29 it gave up in its loss to Texas A&M.Despite the run by Florida Atlantic, the UNT lead never got down to single digits with a Zaph 3-pointer bringing it the score to 67-57 prior to the buzzer.
With the win, North Texas improves to 19-5 overall and 9-3 in American Athletic Conference play. The 19 wins ties four other North Texas teams for most regular season wins in program history.
Tulsa 74, UTSA 70
Tulsa overcame a 13-point deficit in the final six minutes to claim a 74-70 win over the UTSA Roadrunners Wednesday night in front of 1,177 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Tulsa improved to 18-7 overall and 8-4 in American Athletic Conference play, while UTSA fell to 12-11 and 6-6 in league play. The 18 wins for Tulsa are the most in nine years since posting an 18-14 mark in the 2014-15 campaign.
The come-from-behind victory was the fifth 4th quarter comeback this season for the Hurricane, as well as the largest.
Temira Poindexter's 20 points, including 10 in the final quarter and eight in the last 5:21 of the game, led four players in double-digit for the Hurricane. Delanie Crawford added 15 points, Mady Cartwright 13 and Jessika Evans 10.
Tulsa's comeback was sparked by Poindexter's three-pointer at the 5:21 mark cutting the UTSA lead to 10 points, and beginning a 21-4 run to close out the game for the Hurricane victory. Cartwright's trey made it a seven-point game and Crawford's fastbreak layup and free throw cut the Roadrunners lead to four points at 66-62, all happening in just 1:12.
With 3:36 left in the contest, Katia Gallegos' field goal made it a two-point game at 66-64, but Aysia Proctor's three-pointer pushed the UTSA lead back to five points.
From there, Tulsa finished the game on a 10-1 run beginning with Cartwright and Poindexter again connecting on back-to-back treys for a 70-69 Tulsa lead with just 1:27 left on the game clock.
With 20 points, Poindexter now has 509 points on the year, marking the sixth time and just the fourth player to register 500+ points in a single season. Crawford's 15 points tonight brought the junior to within seven points of becoming just the 13th player in school history and the second player this season to hit the 1,000-point plateau for a career.
Tulsa led 38-34 at halftime, while UTSA outscored the Hurricane 21-13 in the third quarter to take a 55-51 lead at the end of the period.
Rice 75, East Carolina 57
The Rice women's basketball team grabbed a late first-quarter lead and never looked back, sweeping the season series with East Carolina 75-57 Wednesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. With the win, Rice moves to 15-9 (9-4 The American) on the season.
Malia Fisher led Rice with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while adding eight rebounds, three steals and two assists. Dominique Ennis added 13 points, four steals, a rebound and an assist, while Jazzy Owens-Barnett netted 12 points and five assists. Emily Klaczek rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
As a team, Rice shot 24-of-52 (46.2%) and 6-of-14 (42.9%) from three-point range. The Owls added a 21-of-25 (84%) showing from the free throw line. Rice out-rebounded ECU 37-27 and scored 50 bench points compared to four for ECU. Rice limited ECU to 22-of-54 (41%) shooting from the field and 2-of-13 (15%) from three-point range. The Owls forced 16 Pirate turnovers, scoring 22 points off those turnovers.