Tulsa Women’s Basketball vs. Saint Louis Preview

Thursday, December 15 ~ 7:00 pm Central ~ Donald W. Reynolds Center ~ Tulsa, Okla.

Tickets: Single game tickets are $5 general admission (except UConn, which are $10 a ticket) and season passes are $50. Tickets can be purchased at the Reynolds Center ticket office or by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688).

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.

Video: Watch Here

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ Saint Louis

2016-17 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Saint Louis

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Saint Louis Facebook: SLU WBB

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Saint Louis Twitter: SLU WBB

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 6th Year
Career Record: 222-181 (14 years)
Record at Tulsa: 75-88 (6 years)

Saint Louis: Lisa Stone (Iowa, 1984), 5th Year
Record: 575-300 (31 years)
Record at SLU: 72-63 (5 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F     00     Kendrian Elliott, 6-2, Fr-HS, Wichita, Kan., 10.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg
G     2       Tatyana Perez, 5-6, So-1L, Cypress, Texas, 10.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg
G     3       Erika Wakefield, 5-4, Jr-2L, Moore, Okla., 12.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.3 apg
G     10     Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Fr-HS, Broken Arrow, Okla., 6.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg
G     12     Shug Dickson, 5-9, Fr-HS, St. Louis, Mo., 5.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg

Saint Louis' Probable Starters
G     3       Jackie Kemph, 5-7, Jr, Arlington Heights, Ill., 14.6 ppg, 7.4 apg
G     10     Jenny Vliet, 6-2, Jr, Arlington Heights, Ill., 8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg
F     12     Olivia Jakubicek, 5-10, Sr, Cary, Ill., 7.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg
G     20     Jordyn Frantz, 6-0, So, Wakarusa, Ind., 12.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.8 apg
C     40     Sadie Stipanovich, 6-3, Sr, St. Louis, Mo., 13.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg

In the Last Game
     Tulsa junior-transfer Ebony Parker scored a career-high 20 points in an 85-68 loss to #19/20 Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
     Parker had six three-point baskets in the contest to tie for fifth-most in school history in a single game with five former TU players. She shot 60-percent from behind the arc, and was 7-of-13 from the field in the contest. Kendrian Elliott and Alexis Gaulden both finished with nine points, while Tatyana Perez added eight points and Shug Dickson scored seven. Elliott and Gaulden both had team-bests of four rebounds, while Perez had four assists and Erika Wakefield had four steals.
     Oklahoma had a 39-34 lead in rebounds, a 14-13 advantage in assists, a 15-8 lead in steals and a 7-1 advantage in blocks. TU hit 11-of-21 three-pointers, while the Sooners were 4-of-9 in the contest.

Scouting the Opponent
     Saint Louis has a 7-2 overall record, but are coming off a 70-67 loss to Indiana State. The Billikens are led by three players averaging double-digit points, including Jackie Kemph (14.6), Sadie Stipanovich (13.1) and Jordyn Frantz (12.2). Olivia Jakubicek has a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game, Kemph has 67 assists and Frantz has 16 steals.

Against the Opponent
     This will be the sixth meeting between Tulsa and Saint Louis, as SLU has a 4-1 lead in the series. The Billikens picked up an 82-73 win last season in St. Louis.

In the Nation
     Tulsa ranks 23rd in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.380), 29th in three-point field goals made (76), 50th in three-point field goals per game (7.6), 54th in free-throw percentage (.738) and 76th in three-point field goals attempted (200).
     Tatyana Perez ranks 75th in three-point field goals made (22) and three-point field goal percentage (.415), and 137th in three-point field goals per game (2.2).

Stepping Up
     Nine of Tulsa's 13 players have scored in double figures this season. Erika Wakefield has scored in double figures seven times, while Tatyana Perez has six double-digit games, and Kendrian Elliott has four double-figure scoring contests. Ebony Park, Crystal Polk and Jessica Pongonis all have two double-figure contests, while Shug Dickson, Alexis Gaulden and Liesl Spoerl have all had one double-digit scoring game on the year.

Above 500
     Kendrian Elliott has a team-high .528 field goal percentage, while Jessica Pongonis is also shooting at exactly .500 this season. Erika Wakefield is TU's next best shooter with 46.6-percent.

Behind the Arc
     Eight of Tulsa players have combined for 76 three-pointers this season, for a 7.6 three-pointers per game average. TU's opponents have hit 50 three's for 5.0 per game.
     Tatyana Perez has a team-best 22 trey's, while Ebony Parker has 16 and Alexis Gaulden has 12.

In Tulsa's Top 10
     Ashley Hughes is second in free throw percentage in school history with a .865 clip (32 of 37).

Mossman Has 222 Career Wins
     Matilda Mossman has collected 222 career victories, including 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 75 wins at TU.

Parker for Three
     Tulsa junior-transfer Ebony Parker knocked down an NJCAA Division I record 144 three-point shots last season. In comparison, then TU senior Kelsee Grovey had a team-best 68 three's last season and 233 in her career. The most in a single season at Tulsa was 77 by Athena Pirpich (2000-01), while Grovey's 233 career three's is a school best.

Returning Starters
     Tulsa returns two starters from last season, including junior Erika Wakefield and sophomore Tyjae' Scales. Wakefield averaged 8.7 points, 3.0 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game, while Scales posted 2.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game a year ago.

Hurricane Picked Ninth in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll
     In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, UConn was predicted to win the 2016-17 American Athletic Conference Championship, while Temple was second and USF third. Tulane, SMU, East Carolina, Memphis, UCF, Tulsa, Cincinnati and Houston round out the poll.

UConn to Host American Championship
     UConn will host the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., from March 3-6.

13 Opponents in 2016 Postseason
     Thirteen of Tulsa's opponents played in the postseason in 2015-16, including NCAA teams BYU, Kansas State, Oklahoma, UConn and USF; WNIT teams Arkansas State, Little Rock, Memphis, Saint Louis, South Dakota, Temple and Tulane; and WBI participant New Mexico.

The Non-Conference Slate
     Tulsa announced the 13-game non-conference schedule, which features a potential eight games against 2016 postseason teams, five home contests, including games against Arkansas and the 2016 WNIT Champions South Dakota, and a trip to Albuquerque, N.M., for the UNM Thanksgiving Classic. All 14 of TU's potential non-conference opponents finished last year with double-digit wins, while eight teams played in the postseason.

The League Opponents
     Tulsa will host 11-time National Champion UConn, as well as three other teams that played in the postseason, in American Athletic Conference action. Five teams in The American advanced to postseason play last year, as UConn and USF played in the NCAA Tournament, and Memphis, Temple and Tulane participated in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. (Tulsa will not host Tulane at home this season.)

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.

TulsaHurricane.com
     Keep up with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane women's basketball team by accessing the official University of Tulsa athletic department web site at TulsaHurricane.com.

A Hurricane in Tulsa?
     The Origination of The University of Tulsa nickname - Golden Hurricane - was created in 1922. A new football coach, Howard Archer came to town and inherited a slew of nicknames dating back to 1895. In the past, Tulsa had been named "Kendallites," "Presbyterians," "Tigers," "Orange and Black," "Tulsans," and of course, "Yellow Jackets." The team started working out in the fall with a new nickname "Yellow Jackets" which was apparently due to the fact that the team was wearing new black and yellow uniforms. The team opened the season and it was apparent that Tulsa was going to have a great year, and trying to seize some publicity for his team, Archer wanted to find a new nickname quickly. After a remark was made in practice one day about "roaring through opponents," and because of their new jersey colors, he thought of "Golden Tornadoes." But a check showed that Georgia Tech already had chosen that tag in 1917. From the tornado, he evolved meteorologically to the hurricane. A few days before the team left for a game against Texas A&M, Archer asked the squad to vote on the name, and thus "Golden Hurricane" was born.

Tulsa Women’s Basketball vs. Saint Louis Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Shug Dickson

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Kelsee Grovey

Ashley Hughes

Ebony Parker

Tatyana Perez

Crystal Polk

Jessica Pongonis

Tyjae' Scales

Liesl Spoerl

Erika Wakefield