Tulsa Women’s Basketball vs. East Carolina

Wednesday, February 3 ~ 6:00 pm Central ~ Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum ~ Greenville, N.C.

Game Notes: Tulsa

Radio: TU's regular season games can be heard on CHROME 93.5 FM and KWTU 88.7 FM HD2, as well as online on TulsaHurricane.com. Brandon Hart calls play-by-play.

Watch Online: Watch on ESPN3

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ East Carolina

2015-16 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ East Carolina

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Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

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Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

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The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 5th Year
Career Record: 214-170 (13 years)
Record at Tulsa: 67-77 (5 years)

East Carolina: Heather Macy (Greensboro College, 2000), 6th Year
Career Record: 218-115 (11 years)
Record at ECU: 103-76 (6 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          00       Kelsee Grovey, 5-8, Sr.-3L, Shawnee, Okla., 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg
G          3          Erika Wakefield, 5-4, So.-1L, Moore, Okla., 9.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.1 apg
G          13       Ashley Hughes, 5-7, Jr.-2L, Sulphur, Okla., 2.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg
G          23       Ashley Clark, 5-11, Sr.-3L, Midwest City, Okla., 13.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg
F          25       Tyjae' Scales, 6-1, Fr.-HS, Houston, Texas, 2.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg

East Carolina's Probable Starters
G          1          Alex Frazier, 5-9, Fr., Lawrenceville, Ga., 3.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg
G          4          DeVaughn Gray, 5-11, Sr., Tulsa, Okla., 8.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg
F          23       Jada Payne, 6-2, Sr., Hickory, N.C., 19.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg
F          24       I'Tiana Taylor, 6-1, Sr., Pflugerville, Texas, 13.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg
C          55       Marina Laramie, 6-2, Jr., St. Louis, Mo., 11.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg

The Last Game
            Tulsa dropped a 75-74 decision on a late three-point basket that gave UCF the one-point win on Saturday afternoon at CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla.
            Senior Ashley Clark scored a team-best 32 points, while classmate Kelsee Grovey added 17 points. Clark, Ashley Hughes and Tyjae' Scales all had five rebounds, while Clark and Hughes each had three assists, and Grovey and Teanna Reid both had two steals.
            The Knights edged ahead throughout the second half, taking a 10-point lead with 6:58 on the clock and then a 13-point advantage at the 9:01 mark in the final frame. TU then made a late push, outscoring UCF, 13-7, to close out the game, but it was too late.

The Opponent
            East Carolina has a 9-12 overall record, including a 3-6 mark in American Athletic Conference play, and has won just one of their last four games. The Pirates are led by a trio of players averaging double-digit points, including Jada Payne (19.9), I'Tiana Taylor (13.8) and Marina Laramie (11.1). Taylor also averages double-figure rebounds with 10.6 per game and has a team-best 13 blocks, Payne also has 13 blocks and a team-high 45 steals, and Khadidja Toure has 52 assists.

Series History
            This will be the 17th meeting in the all-time series with East Carolina as the series is tied 8-8. Tulsa won the previous meeting this season, 81-79, at home in overtime.

The Losses
            In seven of Tulsa's 15 losses, TU has led at some point in the fourth quarter, but weren't able to sustain the advantage. The Hurricane's closest decision came against UCF when Tulsa had the lead with 17-seconds to play. TU also led Indiana State (0:51 left), George Mason (1:33 left), Kansas State (4:46 left), Tulane (5:19 left), Drake (9:32 left) and Oral Roberts (to start the 4th quarter).

2-0 to Start Conference Play
            This was the first time Tulsa went 2-0 in conference play since the 2007-08 season when the Golden Hurricane competed in Conference USA. During that year, TU also won their first game of conference play in overtime against SMU (75-62) and narrowly topped Southern Miss (63-62).

Adding Up
            Tulsa junior Ashley Clark became the ninth women's basketball player in school history to score 1,000 career points and one game later Kelsee Grovey tallied her 1,000th point. Clark currently has 1,370 points and Grovey has 1,251 points.

Just 14 More
            Senior guard Kelsee Grovey needs just 14 more three-point baskets to tie the top mark in school history. Kara Pongonis-Paslay (2002-06) currently has the record with 222 threes, while Grovey is in second with 208.

33 Points for Clark
            Ashley Clark set a new personal best of 33 points against Houston (1-20-16), which 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). This marked the first time a Tulsa player scored 30+ points since Taleya Mayberry had 30 points against East Carolina (3-15-13) nearly three years ago.
            Clark scored 32 points against UCF (1-30-16) to tie the eighth-most points in a game with four others.

Making Assists
            Erika Wakefield has a team-best 69 assists this season, including a career-high 10 assists against SMU on January 2, 2016. This marked the first time a TU player tallied 10 or more assists in a game since Taleya Mayberry had 10 against Akron on November 28, 2009.

Sharp Shooters
            Freshmen Crystal Polk and Tyjae' Scales have been hitting their mark this season, boasting the two best field goal percentages on the team. Polk posts a 50.9 percent clip (59-116), while Scales has a 50.0 field goal percentage (20-40).

10+ Free Throws
            Ashley Clark and Erika Wakefield have both hit 10 free throws in a single game this season. Wakefield's 10 free throws made came against East Carolina on 12-30-15, while Clark's came one month later against UCF on 1-30-16. Wakefield went 10-for-10, while Clark went 10-for-11.

Mossman Has 214 Career Wins
            Matilda Mossman reached the 200-win milestone as Tulsa captured a 70-61 win over UCF on Jan. 31, 2015. Mossman had 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 67 wins at TU for 214 career victories.

In Tulsa's Top 10
            Four current Tulsa women's basketball players have earned their way into Tulsa's Top 10 career lists.
- Ashley Clark is third in double-doubles (11), fourth in points (1,370), field goals made (538) and rebounds (677), seventh in assists (255), eighth in free throws made (246), ninth in games played (116), and 10th in steals (144)
- Kelsee Grovey is second in three-point field goals made (208), sixth in assists (271), steals (161) and field goals made (429), seventh in points (1,251) and three-point field goal percentage with a .358 clip (208 of 580), and eighth in free throw percentage with a .800 clip (185 of 231)
- Ashley Hughes is fourth in free throw percentage with a .833 clip (25 of 30)
- Teanna Reid is second in three-point field goal percentage with a .374 clip (61 of 163)

Clark Named to The American Preseason Team; Hurricane Picked Sixth
            Tulsa guard Ashley Clark was named to the American Athletic Conference preseason all-conference second team, while the team was picked to finish sixth in the Preseason Coaches' Poll. In the coaches' poll, UConn was predicted to win the 2015-16 Championship, while USF was second and Temple third. East Carolina, Tulane, Tulsa, Memphis, SMU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston round out the poll.

The Non-Conference Slate
            Tulsa's 11-game non-conference slate featured seven games against 2015 postseason teams. All 11 of TU's non-conference opponents finished last year with double-digit wins, while Arkansas, Oklahoma and UALR competed in the NCAA Tournament; Drake, Kansas State and Northern Iowa played in the WNIT; and Oral Roberts participated in the WBI.

The League Opponents
            Tulsa will play host to 10-time National Champion UConn, as well as NCAA Tournament participants USF and Tulane, in American Athletic Conference action. Six teams in The American advanced to postseason play last year, as East Carolina, Temple and Tulsa competed in the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

UConn to Host American Championship
            UConn will host the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., from March 4-7.

Tulsa in Postseason
            Tulsa has made five postseason appearances, including WNIT bids in 2004, 2005 and 2015, and NCAA bids in 2006 and 2013. TU lost in the first round in 2004 (Memphis), 2005 (Texas A&M) and 2013 (Stanford), but went 1-1 (W, North Carolina State; L, DePaul) in 2006 and 2015 (W, Missouri State; L, Eastern Michigan), for a 2-5 overall mark in postseason play.

Tulsa Women’s Basketball vs. East Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Clark

Kelsee Grovey

Ashley Hughes

Crystal Polk

Teanna Reid

Tyjae' Scales

Erika Wakefield