Tulsa Women Defeat East Carolina 81-79

Wednesday, December 30

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

4-8, 1-0AAC

East Carolina

6-7, 0-1AAC

OT 1

East Carolina

Tulsa

Tulsa Women Defeat East Carolina 81-79

12/30/2015 10:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

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Two Te'era Williams' free throws with 0:17 remaining in overtime gave Tulsa an 81-79 American Athletic Conference victory over East Carolina Wednesday night in front of 337 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa improved to 4-8 on the season and 1-0 in league play, while the Pirates fell to 6-7 and 0-1.

"I am just proud of our kids. I thought we played well together. I thought we fought," said Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman. "We've been in this situation so many times this year and it didn't work out in our favor and that is what we kept reminding our kids. We told them we couldn't, not finish it and that they had to have pride in what they were doing. I thought they really took it upon themselves to fight and finish the game."

Tulsa's Erika Wakefield scored a career-high 24 points and Ashley Clark added 20 points for the Hurricane in a game that saw nine ties and nine lead changes. ECU's Jada Payne had 31 points to lead four Pirate players in double-figures.

"I thought Erika was super tonight. She kept her composure, but that is what we get from her every night. We get composure and we get solid play. In the first half she was getting layups anytime she wanted and she took advantage of what they gave her," said Mossman.

Clark scored the first two points of the overtime period to put the Hurricane ahead 76-74 and Tulsa increased that lead to four points, 79-75, on a Williams free throw followed by a Williams layup at the 1:35 mark. A jumper by Payne and layup by DeVaughn Gray, within 0:28 of each other, knotted the score at 79 with 0:46 left. A foul by Gray with 0:17 on the clock put Williams on the line for the two game-winning free throws.

Tulsa ended the game connecting on 19-of-25 free throws for 76 percent, while the Pirates made just 44-percent of its free throws (8-of-18). The Hurricane shot 40 percent from the field, while ECU connected on 46 percent of its field goals.

"I like the stat that we make more free throws than the other team attempts. We made 19 and they only attempted 18. It was our attack mentality and being aggressive," added Mossman.

East Carolina came out of intermission and sliced Tulsa's seven-point halftime lead to two by the end of the third period, 60-58. ECU took its first lead since early in the first quarter when Gabrielle Holston scored a running layup to give the Pirates a 62-60 lead at the 8:51 mark of the fourth period.

Clark's layup at 8:02 tied the score at 62, and her jumper the next time down the floor gave the Hurricane a 64-62 lead. Clark's first basket ended a Tulsa drought of just over three minutes. Two Wakefield free throws and a basket by Liesl Spoerl put the Hurricane ahead 68-66 at the 6:13 mark, but East Carolina scored the next seven points to take a 71-68 lead on Gray's trey at the 4:14 mark.

The Pirates led 73-70 at the 3:42 mark before the Hurricane held ECU scoreless for the next 2:34, while taking a 74-73 lead on a Teanna Reid layup with 1:26 left in regulation. ECU's I'Tiana Taylor made the first of two free throws to tie the score 74-74 with 1:08 remaining.

Tulsa had three more attempts in the final 0:47 to win the game, but all missed the mark thus putting the game into the extra session.

Tulsa opened the game on an 8-2 run by converting 5-of-6 from the free throw line and a three-pointer, but the Pirates rattled off the next seven points to take a 9-8 lead with 5:25 left in the first quarter.

The Hurricane closed out the first period by out-scoring ECU 16-7 to finish the quarter with a 25-16 lead.

Wakefield's layup at the 8:07 mark of the second period gave Tulsa its largest lead of the first half at 30-17. The Pirates cut the Tulsa lead to five points on a Payne three-pointer with 2:21 remaining in the first half. Payne hit another three-pointer at the 0:31 mark to cut a 10-point Tulsa lead to seven points, 44-37, at halftime.

Both teams shot 42-percent from the field in the first half, while East Carolina made 5-of-9 treys for 55 percent, but was just 4-of-8 from the free throw line. Tulsa converted 44-percent from behind the arc and was 12-of-13 from the line for 92 percent.

Wakefield led Tulsa with 13 first-half points, followed by Clark with 10. ECU's Payne had 16 points to lead all scorers in the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa remains at the Reynolds Center for a Saturday afternoon game against the SMU Mustangs. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.