Tulsa 80, Arkansas 62
Tulsa built a 17-point first-quarter lead and dominated for most of the contest in an 80-62 victory over Arkansas in a first-round game of the WBIT Thursday night in front of 1,831 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Tulsa improved to 24-9 overall, while the Lady Razorbacks closed out the season with an 18-15 record.
Tulsa will play the winner of tonight's WBIT matchup between Washington and Georgetown. Location and tipoff time for the round 2 game will be announced on Friday.
The American Athletic Conference's Player of the Year Temira Poindexter led three Golden Hurricane players in double-figures with her 21st game scoring 20 or more points this year with 21 points. Freshman Elise Hill scored a career-high 18 points and Delanie Crawford added 17 points.
Arkansas' Maryam Dauda led all scorers with 22 points, while also adding a game-high nine rebounds.
Tulsa jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and expanded that to as many as 17 points in the first quarter. The Hurricane played all but the first 1:16 of the second quarter with a lead of over 20 points with the biggest margin of 28 points coming when Katia Gallegos scored on a driving layup to make the score 41-14 at the 5:19 mark.
Tulsa led by 23 at halftime, 45-22, as Poindexter led the way with 17 first-half points. The Hurricane scored seven more field goals, including five more from three-point range, while also out-rebounding the Lady Razorbacks 26-17.
In the third quarter, Tulsa held a 20+ lead for all but the final 0:03 of the period when Karley Johnson hit a three-pointer to cut the Arkansas deficit to 18 points to end the period. Tulsa led by as many as 24 in the final period, while the closest Arkansas would get was the final 18-point margin.
Tulsa finished the game shooting 44-percent from the field, 39-percent from three-point range and 80-percent from the charity stripe, while Arkansas connected on 36-percent of its field goals while being held to 21-percent from behind the arc. The Hurricane also had a 44-to-36 edge in rebounding and 20-to-9 advantage for assists.
UTSA 80, Northern Colorado 62
Senior Jordyn Jenkins recorded a game-high 27 points, and classmate Kyra White was one assist shy of a double-double as UTSA defeated Northern Colorado 80-62 on Thursday to advance into the Second Round of the 2024 Postseason WNIT. The win was the program's first in the postseason, and the Roadrunners are now 1-2 all-time in national postseason play.
The Roadrunners (18-14, 10-8 The American) bested the Bears (15-16, 10-8 Big Sky), as Jenkins went 11-for-16 from the field in the squad's WNIT debut. Meanwhile, White charted 10 points with nine assists and four rebounds, and freshman Aysia Proctor went 5-for-6 to score 13 points with six boards. Also joining the double-digit scoring club, sophomore Sidney Love scored 10 points, including a pair of triples.
As a team, UTSA shot 47.7% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc, recording 16 more points off turnovers and 11 more fast-break points than the opposition.
Jenkins kick-started the contest with a bucket ahead of a graduate student Hailey Atwood triple, leading to a 5-3 advantage. UNC then sparked a 6-0 run that put them up 9-5, but Jenkins responded with a layup, and Proctor converted an and-one to put the 'Runners back up. The teams traded three-pointers before two more Bear treys resulted in a 20-13 Northern Colorado edge. UTSA answered with a 6-0 surge that saw four points by Jenkins and a sophomore Cheyenne Rowe bucket. The Bears knocked down a freebie before the quarter ended, with UNC up 23-19.
UTSA strung together seven straight, with back-to-back triples by White and Jenkins delivering a 28-26 advantage early in the second. The Bears halted the run with a make, but the Roadrunners added to their lead with another Jenkins jumper and a Love three-pointer, seeing a 37-30 advantage. The teams then traded blows before UTSA headed to the locker room, holding a 40-35 edge.
The squads matched each other for the majority of the third quarter, as Jenkins connected from beyond the arc and used a layup to keep the 'Runners in front. A three-ball for Proctor shortly after saw a 56-49 UTSA lead. However, the Bears finished the stanza with a layup, issuing a 60-55 score line heading into the fourth.
UTSA was scorching to open the final frame, scoring eight of the first 10 points for a 70-57 lead. Northern Colorado halted the run, but the 'Runners picked up right where they left off, using another six points surge to take a commanding 76-59 advantage. UTSA then finished the fight en route to an 80-62 final score.
Southern Miss 79, UAB 74
The UAB women's basketball team fell on the road in the first round of the WNIT to Southern Miss Wednesday night by a score of 79-74.
The Blazers 18-14 made eight first half 3-pointers and had a 10-point lead heading into the final frame, but Southern Miss (19-13) outscored UAB 31-16 in the fourth quarter.
The Blazers made 16 points from behind the arc for the game and shot 40 percent overall, but allowed the Golden Eagles to shoot 51 percent in the contest, including 65 percent in the final frame.
Jade Weathersby led UAB with 19 points on 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from the long range. Denim DeShields followed behind Weathersby with 18 points and was 7-of-13 from the paint and 4-of-6 in the 3-point range, while Maddie Walsh (12) also reached double figures.
UAB started out the game red hot and went on a 7-2 scoring run and were up 14-4 at the first media timeout. The Blazers continued to dominate in the first quarter with Walsh scoring nine points and Weathersby recorded eight of her own. UAB headed into the second quarter up by four at 22-18.
The Blazers shot 50 percent in the second frame and went 6-of-12 from the field. Southern Miss kept up with UAB, with each team scoring 14 points in the quarter. The Blazers would lead by four heading into the break.
Southern Miss was able to get with one of UAB (41-40), but the Blazers separated from the Golden Eagles with the help of Weathersby who had seven points. Mia Moore and Kylee Schneringer each recorded five points. UAB heading into the final frame leading by 10 (58-48).
The Golden Eagles went on a 7-1 run to begin the fourth and a layup by Melyia Grayson gave Southern Miss its first lead of the game. UAB would take the lead again with a 3-pointer from Ashton Elley (63-61), but Grayson would tie it up with a layup. UAB would lead one more time at 65-63, before USM would go on a 7-0 run to lead 77-65 with 2:21 left to play. DeShields made a 3-pointer as the clock ran out to make the final score 79-74.
TCU 67, North Texas 58
The UNT women's basketball season came to an end with a 67-58 defeat to TCU in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament Thursday night.
A pair of runs to start the second and third quarters built a double-digit lead for the Horned Frogs that North Texas couldn't overcome.
TCU's first big stretch came after North Texas ended the first quarter on a 13-4 run of its own to claim a 16-13 lead. The Frogs jumped ahead 29-20 behind a 16-4 run that lasted nearly five minutes of the quarter.
After the Mean Green battled back late in the half to go into the locker room down 31-25, TCU threw another haymaker with an 8-0 run to start the second half. Sedona Prince had nine points in the quarter alone, while TCU shot 75% from the floor as a team. The deficit for North Texas would grow as large as 19 points with seven minutes to play in the fourth.
The Mean Green would make a late push over the final five minutes cutting TCU's lead to single digits with just over two minutes to play, but it was too little too late as the Horned Frogs held on to advance to the second round of the WBIT.
Tommisha Lampkin led North Texas with 24 points and 10 rebounds, which marked her 13th double double of the season and moved her into 10th place all-time on the single-season double doubles list at UNT. She also became the 16th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points with a floater in the second quarter.
UNT had nine players score in the game, but DesiRay Kernal was the only other player to reach double figures with 10 points in her final collegiate game.
Prince led the Horned Frogs with 17 points, while Madison Conner added 16 points behind three 3-pointers. TCU, who appeared in the AP Top 25 earlier this season, improved to 21-11 on the season, but is 18-3 with Conner and Madison on the floor together.
The loss concluded a historical season for the Mean Green in Jason Burton's first year. At 23-9, North Texas set program records for wins in a season, regular season wins, conference victories and earned a share of its first conference title since 1986. The Mean Green's appearance in the inaugural WBIT marked the program's sixth postseason appearance ever.