Shooting Struggles Plague Tulsa in 70-43 Loss to Temple

Wednesday, February 8

Philadelphia, Pa.

11:00 am

Tulsa

8-16,4-7American

Temple

18-5,8-2American

Tulsa

Temple

Shooting Struggles Plague Tulsa in 70-43 Loss to Temple

2/8/2017 1:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

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The Tulsa women's basketball team struggled to shoot the ball as Temple claimed a 70-43 win on Wednesday afternoon at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The Golden Hurricane fell to 8-16 on the season and 4-7 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Owls moved to 18-5 overall and 8-2 in the league.

Erika Wakefield had a team-leading 11 points, while Tatyana Perez added nine and Kendrian Elliott posted seven points. Elliott pulled down 10 rebounds and had one block, and Wakefield and Shug Dickson both had two assists.

"Other than Taty in the last three minutes, I don't think anyone shot better than 30-percent," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "It was a tough day and when one player shoots poorly that tends to feed over to other players on the team. Give Temple all the credit – they came out and were aggressive, and we weren't very efficient or functional against their defense."

Tulsa shot just 22-percent from the field, including 30-percent from three-point range, and 60-percent (9-of-15) from the free throw line, while Temple shot 38-percent from the field, 27-percent from behind the arc and 66-percent (12-of-18) from the charity stripe.

Tulsa had a 49-48 lead in rebounds, while Temple had a 14-9 advantage in assists, an 8-2 lead in steals and a 7-2 advantage in blocks.

Temple inched ahead to a nine-point lead, 19-10, at the end of the first quarter. The Golden Hurricane struggled to shoot the ball in the first 10-minutes, going 3-of-16 from the field for 18-percent, while the Owls shot 33-percent from the field, but were 0-of-5 from behind the arc.

Tulsa scored the first five points in the second frame to cut the deficit to four, 19-15, at the 6:52 mark. Alliya Butts drilled in a three-pointer just 27-seconds later, but Shug Dickson countered with a trey 12-seconds behind that and forced a timeout by the Owls with 6:13 on the clock in the second quarter and a 22-18 lead by Temple. The Owls closed out the quarter with an 18-4 run to take a 40-22 advantage into the break.

The Golden Hurricane shot 18-percent from the field, including 33-percent from three-point range and were 6-of-8 from the free throw line for 75-percent in the first half, while the Owls shot 41-percent from the field, 40-percent from behind the arc and 66-percent (6-of-9) from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.

Temple outscored Tulsa, 20-7, in the third quarter to take a 60-29 lead, while Tulsa had a 14-10 scoring advantage in the final frame for the final 70-43 score. Perez scored all nine of her points in the final three minutes of the contest.

The Owls had a game-high 39-point (70-31) lead with 3:30 left to play in the contest, as the Hurricane had all 12 points to close out the contest.

Donnaizha Fountain had a team-leading 17 points and nine rebounds, while Feyonda Fitzgerald added 14 points, nine boards and eight assists, and Alliya Butts posted 12 points.

Temple had a 22-4 advantage in points off turnovers, a 29-14 lead in points in the paint, and a 23-14 advantage in points from the bench.

Tulsa will return to action on Saturday, February 11 against UCF. Game time is set for 1:00 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.