Tulsa
UCF
Tulsa Women Fall to UCF, 76-70
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2015
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Orlando, Fla. - Ashley Clark led Tulsa with a double-double and three others scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Hurricane dropped a 76-70 decision to UCF on Saturday afternoon at CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla. TU fell to 6-7 on the season and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Knights moved to 6-7 overall and 2-0 in the league.
"We aren't very big, but we've got to show more fight," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "We've run every rebounding drill known, but until we actually battle hard enough not to give up offensive rebounds we are going to struggle. Hopefully we'll learn from it and keep impressing upon our small team that they have to battle and get rebounds to not allow second-chance points."
Clark had 14 points and a team-best 11 rebounds, while Kelsee Grovey paced the Hurricane with 16 points. Teanna Reid scored 13 and tallied six assists, and Mariah Turner added 11 points and a team-best two steals.
The Knights were led by Zykira Lewis with 25 points and Aliyah Gregory with 21 points. Yanique Gordon pulled down 10 rebounds.
UCF had a 50-34 advantage in rebounds, an 8-7 lead in steals and a 3-1 advantage in blocks. Both teams had 13 assists, while TU had just 13 turnover compared to the Knights' 15.
After getting down by 10 (45-35) at the 15:32 mark of the second frame, Tulsa fought back with a 12-2 run to tie the contest at 47-all with 12:36 left to play. The Knights took back the lead on a layup by Stephanie Taylor at the 11:51 mark, but TU tied it at 57-57 at the 7:04 mark and took the lead on a Grovey jumper at the 6:28 mark. Gregory tied it back up for the Knights and Fifi Ndour gave them the go-ahead basket at the 5:28 mark.
Neither team was able to score until Kadan Brady hit a three with 3:29 left to play to give Tulsa the lead, but Andrea Hines tallied a basket 19-seconds later for UCF. TU was able to tie the score one more time, 65-65, at the 2:07 mark, but the Knights outscored TU, 9-5, to close out the game.
Tulsa shot 38-percent from the field, 34-percent from three-point range and 76-percent from the charity stripe. UCF was 42-percent from the field, 25-percent from behind the arc and 75-percent from the free throw line.
The Hurricane had 24 points in the paint, but allowed 40, and had just 11 second-chance points, while allowing 22.
Antoinet Webster put the Golden Hurricane on the board first and TU held onto the lead until the 15:15 mark when Brittni Montgomery scored a layup to take a 7-6 advantage for the Knights. Webster and Lewis traded baskets and the teams traded leads once again, but Clark put up a layup at the 12:46 mark for a 10-9 advantage for Tulsa.
The Hurricane inched ahead for a 10-point lead (28-18) at the 3:50 mark, but UCF went on a 15-0 run to close out the half and take a 33-28 advantage into the break.
Tulsa shot 31-percent from the field, including just 12-percent from three-point range, in the first frame, but went 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. The Knights were 37-percent from the field, 33-percent from behind the arc and 87-percent from the free throw line.
Turner had a team-best eight points, while Clark had nine boards in the first half. TU allowed just four offensive boards to their seven, and both teams had 17 defensive rebounds.
Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, January 7 against No. 2 UConn beginning at 6:00 pm Central at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
