Charlotte 88, Temple 81
The Charlotte women's basketball team completed a furious fourth quarter comeback to get a thrilling double overtime win over the Temple Owls inside Halton Arena. With the win, the 49ers improved their record to 13-9 and 6-4 within American Athletic Conference play.
Coming into Sunday, Dazia Lawrence needed 23 points to reach 1,000 career points. Lawrence became the 28th Niner to reach the milestone on a layup to cut the deficit to 66-64 with under a minute remaining.
Dazia Lawrence's 29 points was a game-high for both teams. Tracey Hueston finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, adding in two blocked shots. Keanna Rembert was the third Niner in double figures as she scored 12. Olivia Porter played a game-high 46 minutes, stuffing the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and two steals for an all-around performance. Jacee Busick made four clutch free throws in overtime, while Imani Smith finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Charlotte as a team was efficient from the free throw line as they made 25 of their 30 attempts. 42 points came in the paint, and the Niners navigated their way to victory despite 27 turnovers. Charlotte trailed by as many as 17, and only held the lead for a total of 7:16.
East Carolina 72, Wichita State 51
The East Carolina women's basketball team downed the Wichita State Shockers, 72-51, on Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena. Tatyana Wyche became the first player in program history to record a double-double with seven-or-more blocks and Danae McNeal added 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win.
The Pirates (13-8, 6-4 The American) got off to a hot start in the game, putting up 25 points in the first quarter – the most in the opening frame since scoring 25 against UTSA on Jan. 2 – to take a nine-point lead early. The team led by as many as 12 in that first half, led by McNeal's 12 points and three steals, but Wichita State (6-17, 2-9 The American) used a stagnant period of offense to claw slowly back into it. During a stretch in the second quarter, the teams combined to shoot just 2-22 from the field, but the Shockers were able to score a few points from the foul line and eventually, when the scoring did pick back up, cut the lead to just five at the half.
Karina Gordon hit a trio of threes in the first half which moved her further up the freshman three-point rankings, while Wyche did some phenomenal work with seven rebounds and a quartet of blocks in the opening 20 minutes despite some foul trouble. It seemed at times like Wyche was blocking every shot in her vicinity and the rejections piled up in short order for the forward.
The Pirates came out of the halftime break hot with McNeal and Gordon knocking down a pair of threes to push the lead back into double figures where it largely remained for the rest of the period. Wyche continued her excellent play in the quarter as well, scoring six points and grabbing three more rebounds to put herself on the precipice of her second career double-double.
The Pirates broke the game open in the fourth quarter, using an 10-0 run in under three minutes to balloon the margin to 22 with just over three to play, 69-47. The final points of that run came on a pair of free throws by Wyche which gave her a double-double to go with her seven blocks. The Pirates were able to cruise from there on their way to their sixth conference win, outscoring Wichita 21-11 in the final quarter.
Tulsa 79, North Texas 74
Delanie Crawford scored a game-high 31 points in leading Tulsa (17-6, 7-3 The American) to a 79-74 come-from-behind victory over North Texas (17-5, 7-3 The American) in front of 1,792 fans Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The win moved Tulsa into a three-way tie for first place with North Texas and UAB (16-6, 7-3 The American).
Crawford connected on 11-of-26 from the field, 4-of-10 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line for her second 30+ scoring game of the season and added a game-high seven assists. Crawford scored 14 fourth quarter points, including 10 in the final 2:30, as Tulsa overcame a 10-point deficit in the final period.
Temira Poindexter added 20 points, while Crawford, Poindexter and Hadley Periman each shared the lead for rebounds with six apiece. Katia Gallegos, who returned to the Tulsa lineup after missing the last nine games with an injury, scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter, and added two assists in 13 minutes of play.
It was a strong first half for the Hurricane, scoring 22 points in each of the first two quarters to take a 44-37 lead into halftime, behind 16 points from Crawford and 11 from Poindexter. North Texas rebounded to outscore the Hurricane 16-8 in the third period to take a 53-52 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
North Texas went on a 14-5 run for the first 4:57 minutes of the fourth quarter for a 67-57 lead with 5:03 remaining in the contest. Gallegos' driving layup at the 4:36 mark began Tulsa's comeback. Two Poindexter free throws and three-pointers from Crawford and Gallegos knotted the score at 69 with 2:09 left.
The score was again tied at 71 on DesiRay Kernal's first of two made free throws that gave UNT a one-point lead, 72-71, with 1:06 to play. Tulsa's Crawford knocked down a three-pointer for a 74-72 lead with 0:51 on the clock.
The Hurricane closed out the game by making 5-of-6 free throws in the final 0:16 to claim the five-point victory.
For the game, North Texas dominated the paint 42-to-24, but the Hurricane knocked down 13 three-pointers to just five for the Mean Green.
Tulane 75, UTSA 64
Amira Mabry, in a homecoming game for her, led the Tulane women's basketball team (10-11, 3-7 The American) to a sweet-shooting 75-64 victory over UTSA (11-10, 5-5 The American) on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. Tulane knocked down 13 threes in the game to earn their second straight conference victory.
Mabry scored 15 points and shot 6-for-8 from the field plus 2-for-3 from three-point range in the victory. Marta Galic totaled 14 points, three rebounds and two assists. Kyren Whittington picked up 14 points, three steals and two assists. Hannah Pratt chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Irina Parau totaled seven points, four rebounds and four assists. Kaylah Rainey tallied six points and three assists. Joy Madison-Key contributed four points, four assists and a steal. Chiara Grattini recorded six points.
UTSA was led by 21 points and 12 rebounds from Elyssa Coleman. She was one of three that reached double figures as Aysia Proctor recorded 14 points while Sidney Love picked up 10 points.
Tulane's largest lead was 22 points early in the fourth quarter, 60-38. The game only featured one lead change as Tulane took control after allowing the Roadrunners to score the first seven points of the game. Tulane shot 55.1 percent from the field (27-for-49), 46.4 percent from three-point range (13-for-28) nd 88.9 percent from the free throw line (8-for-9). The Green Wave also had 21 rebounds, 19 assists, seven steals and five blocks.
UTSA's largest advantage was seven twice in the game, 7-0 and 10-3. The Roadrunners shot 39.4 percent from the field (26-for-66), 27.3 percent from three-point range (6-for-22) and 75 percent from the free throw line (6-for-8). UTSA dominated the boards with 39 rebounds and 36 points in the paint. The program also had 14 assists, nine steals and two blocks.
Tulane started slowly as they program trailed 7-0 before catching up and leading 11-10 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was a shooting display for the Green Wave as the program outscored the Roadrunners 25-13 to lead at the break 36-23. Tulane extended the lead to 56-38 through three quarters with a 20-15 advantage in the third stanza. The Roadrunners had their best quarter of the afternoon in the fourth as they outscored Tulane 26-19 to make the final score 75-64.