Tulsa
Rice
Farr's 21 Points Leads Tulsa Past Rice, 67-57
2/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2001
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa junior Leela Farr scored a game-high 21 points and freshman Candice Brewer added 15 points and a team-best nine rebounds to lead Tulsa to a 67-57 victory over Rice in front of 1,721 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
With the win, Tulsa snapped a two-game skid and improves to 8-17 overall and 4-9 in Western Athletic Conference play. Rice falls to 14-11 overall and 6-7 in league games.
Senior Athena Pirpich drained 3-of-4 three-point field goal attempts and finished with 13 points. Pirpich also earned four assists to become just the fourth Tulsa player to surpass the 100-assist plateau in a single season. Brewer also dished-out a game-high six assists.
Rice received a team-best 15 points from LaTonya Sam and 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds from Kenya Tuttle. The Owls outrebounded the Hurricane 40-31, but committed 15 turnovers to just nine for Tulsa, which marked a season-low for the Hurricane.
Tulsa connected on 38-percent of its shots, while Rice was good on 35.6-percent of its shots. But the difference maker was TU's performance from behind the three-point line and the free-throw line. The Hurricane nailed 4-of-9 treys for 44-percent, while the Owls could only connect on 3-of-16 attempts from behind the arc.
At the foul line, Tulsa converted 27 of 35 attempts for 77 percent, while Rice only managed 15 trips to the charity stripe, but sank 12 of the 15 attempts for 80-percent.
Tulsa charged out the gate in the first half. TU scored the game's initial basket and Rice tied the score at 2-2 with just 2:06 gone by. A short jumper by junior Rachel Hall put the Hurricane in front for the remainder of the first period. Tulsa stretched its lead to as high as nine points in the opening stanza. TU led 26-17 with 4:46 to go before the half, but Rice cut the lead to four points with 1:09 to go. Tulsa scored the final four points of the first half thanks to junior Mia Williams, who broke loose underneath the basket for a lay-up. After a Rice possession, Brewer was fouled after she snagged an offensive board with :01 showing on the clock before intermission. She calmly sank both attempts to give the Golden Hurricane a 30-22 lead at the half.
In the second half, Rice managed to pull to within a single point three times before tying the contest at 39-39 with 11:16 to go in the game. But Tulsa staved off the charge and retook the lead for the next 4:14. At the 7:30 mark, Rice took its second lead of the game and built a three-point advantage at 48-45. But a 6-0 mini-run by Tulsa gave the Hurricane a 51-48 advantage, which it would not relinquish. A lay-up by Rice's Jennifer Rigg pulled the Owls to within a single-point, but two Brewer free throws, a three-pointer by Pirpich and another timely lay-up by Williams plus a free throw gave Tulsa a 59-50 lead and sent the Owls reeling. TU converted 8-of-10 free throw attempts in the final minute for the 10-point victory.
