Ashley Clark Scores 33 Points in 79-62 Win Over Houston

Wednesday, January 20

Houston, Texas

7:00 pm

Tulsa

7-12 (4-4)

Houston

4-14 (0-7)

Tulsa

Houston

Ashley Clark Scores 33 Points in 79-62 Win Over Houston

1/20/2016 9:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

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Senior guard Ashley Clark scored a career-high 33 points and led five players in double figures to give Tulsa a 79-62 win over Houston on Wednesday night at Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston, Texas. TU moved to 7-12 on the season and 4-4 in American Athletic Conference play, while UH fell to 4-14 overall and 0-7 in the league.

Clark surpassed her previous best of 26 points set against both East Carolina (3-1-14) and Little Rock (12-13-15). Her 33 points is tied for third in school history for an individual player in a game with Carla Morrow (UMKC/2-9-01), Jillian Robbins (San Jose State/2-26-05), Jillian Robbins (Memphis/1-7-07) and Taleya Mayberry (Stephen F. Austin/12-30-12).

"It goes to show that if Ashley isn't hitting shots we don't do as well," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "I am just really happy and excited for her that they were going in tonight because I know she's been frustrated that's she been getting open looks and they haven't been going down. She played within the offense tonight, she took what they gave her and she was so in control and balanced."

Kelsee Grovey added 12 points, Erika Wakefield and Teanna Reid both had 11, and Crystal Polk tallied 10 points. Tyjae' Scales pulled down 11 rebounds.

"Crystal went 5-for-8 and has been hitting a good percentage like that," Mossman added." "And then I was happy for Tyjae' to be able to do what she did in getting 11 rebounds in front of her home crowd. She is so strong and when she has her hands on a ball she is going to get it most of the time."

Tulsa had 44 points in the paint, 22 points off the bench, 20 second chance points and 19 points off turnovers, compared to Houston's 30 points in the paint, 29 points off the bench two second chance points and 19 points off turnovers.

The Hurricane had a 47-33 lead in rebounds, a 17-9 advantage in assists and a 14-9 lead in steals, while the Cougars had a 6-2 lead in blocks.

The Hurricane came out fired up in the third quarter, outscoring Houston, 15-2, in the first 3:20 off the clock to take a 42-27 lead. Reid had six of those points on the first made three-pointers of the game, while Clark added five and Grovey had four points in that time. TU extended their run, 7-2, to make it a 20-point advantage (49-29), before UH scored the next seven-straight points to cut their deficit to 13 (49-36). Tulsa closed out the frame with a 55-36 lead.

Houston had their best quarter in the final period as they edged TU, 26-24, but they weren't able to close the 17-point gap. Clark had seven of her 33 points in the final 2:09 of the contest and had nearly half of her points in the final frame with 16.

Tulsa shot 47-percent from the field, including 28-percent from three-point range (4-of-8 in the second half), while hitting 11-of-21 from the free throw line in the contest. The Cougars shot 39-percent from the field, 26-percent from behind the arc, and 66-percent from the charity stripe.

Houston was led by Kierra Graves with 15 points and Cenecia Newman with 14. Both Graves and Serithia Hawkins had five rebounds.

With five tied scores and five lead changes the first quarter was tightly contested with neither team having more than a two-point lead until Jessieka Palmer hit a three-pointer with 33-seconds remaining in the first period. Polk hit a jumper at the 3:24 mark that put the Golden Hurricane up 10-8, but the Cougars outscored TU, 9-3, to close out the frame with a 19-13 advantage.

Tulsa put together a 10-4 run to tie the score at 23-all at the 3:04 mark in the second quarter. The score was tied again at 25-25 before a Grovey layup as the clock expired gave TU a 27-25 lead at halftime. The Hurricane outscored the Cougars, 14-6, in the second frame.

Tulsa shot 35-percent from the field and hit 3-of-8 free throw attempts, while Houston shot 30-percent from the field and were 5-of-6 from the charity stripe in the first half. Both teams went 0-of-6 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa will return to action on Saturday, January 23 against Memphis. Game time is set for 2:00 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.