Clark and Wakefield Spark Tulsa to 55-54 Come-From-Behind Win Over East Carolina

Wednesday, February 3

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 pm

Tulsa

8-15,5-7AAC

East Carolina

9-13,3-7ACC

Tulsa

East Carolina

Clark and Wakefield Spark Tulsa to 55-54 Come-From-Behind Win Over East Carolina

2/3/2016 8:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

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Ashley Clark and Erika Wakefield gave Tulsa a fourth-quarter spark, scoring all 18 points, that led to a 55-54 come-from-behind win over East Carolina on Wednesday night at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. TU moved to 8-15 on the season and 5-7 in American Athletic Conference play, while ECU fell to 9-13 overall and 3-7 in the league.

Clark had a team-best 22 points, followed by Wakefield with 13 and Kelsee Grovey with 10. Clark hit 10-of-19 from the field, while Wakefield was 6-of-9. All three of Grovey's made baskets were from three-point range.

"We ran a couple of things for Ashley Clark at the end so we spread things out and had Tyjae' [Scales] set the screen," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "Ashley read her defense correctly and got to the paint. Erika also was able to use the on-ball screen to pull up for jumpers. They competed the entire game, but especially in the fourth quarter. Kelsee keeps inching closer to breaking the three-point record and all three of her three's tonight were at crucial times."

Both teams came out of the locker room fired up and shooting 50-percent from the field in the first five minutes of the second half, but the Pirates' 75-percent shooting from three-point range (3-of-4) gave ECU a 38-32 advantage at the 4:40 mark. East Carolina was able to inch ahead to an eight-point lead, 45-37, at the end of the third frame.

But it was Clark and Wakefield who chipped away at the East Carolina lead and made it a one-point game, 50-49, with 3:44 to play in the contest. The duo combined for the first 12 fourth-quarter points and outscored the Pirates, 12-5, at that point. Both teams traded baskets, but a jumper by Wakefield with 1:35 remaining in the contest put Tulsa ahead, 53-52. Frazier gave ECU the lead once again with 30-seconds remaining, but with seven seconds left Clark hit a jumper in the paint to put Tulsa back up by one, 55-54. A timeout was called by the Pirates with 3.3 seconds to play and the ball was inbounded from the sideline, but ECU wasn't able to get a shot off to give Tulsa the win.

Clark and Wakefield had all 18 of Tulsa's points in the final frame, including 10 by Clark and eight by Wakefield.

Tulsa shot 41-percent from the field, including 35-percent from three-point range, and were 5-of-11 from the charity stripe, while ECU shot 38-percent from the field, 33-percent from behind the arc and were 6-of-8 from the free throw line.

Tulsa and East Carolina were pretty evenly matched in the paint, scoring 28 and 26-points, respectively. ECU had a 22-18 edge in points off turnovers.

The Pirates were led by Jada Payne with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while DeVaughn Gray and Khadidja Toure both had 12 points.

Tulsa jumped out to a 7-2 lead, as Clark had all of TU's points at the 7:25 mark, but the Pirates battled back to make it a one-point game with 5:30 on the clock. A pair of free throws by Frazier gave ECU an 8-7 lead at the 2:39 mark, but a three-pointer by Wakefield snapped a five-minute cold streak by the Golden Hurricane. The score was tied again at 10-all and 12-all, but at the end of the first period Tulsa had a 15-14 advantage.

TU climbed to another five-point lead, 21-16, with 5:36 to play in the second frame, but the Pirates were able to get the game back to within one, 21-20, at the 4:45 mark. A three-point basket by Khadidja Toure put ECU up 23-21 with 3:30 left to play. Payne added two free throws and Toure had a jumper to give ECU a 27-22 lead with 1:28 on the clock. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the half, including 5:36 ticking off the clock without a field goal by the Hurricane, to close out the second period.

At the end of the first quarter Tulsa was shooting 50-percent (6-of-12), but made just two of their next 11 attempts for 34-percent at halftime, while East Carolina was shooting 40-percent after the first 10 minutes, but 35-percent at the break.

Tulsa will return to action next Wednesday, February 10, against Houston. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.