Tulsa Comeback Bid Falls Short 72-66 Against #20 USF

Wednesday, February 24

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

10-18, 7-10AAC

USF

20-7, 13-3AAC

USF

Tulsa

Tulsa Comeback Bid Falls Short 72-66 Against #20 USF

2/24/2016 9:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

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The 20^th-ranked USF Bulls held off Tulsa's comeback bid for a 72-66 victory over the Golden Hurricane Wednesday in front of 337 fans on Senior Night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa senior Ashley Clark led the Hurricane with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Jordyn Holmes added 15 points and Erika Wakefield scored 10. USF's Courtney Williams scored a game-high 33 points, while Laura Ferreira added 18 points.

Tulsa fell to 10-18 on the season and 7-10 in American Athletic Conference play, while USF improved to 20-7 and 13-3 in league play.

"I am very proud of our team's performance. I thought we fought. We had that lapse in the third quarter and that was the game. We won the second quarter and the fourth quarter, and were within one in the first quarter. It just comes down to that one 10-minute period where we didn't fight hard enough and they scored on easy stuff," said Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman.

After trailing by two at halftime, the Bulls began the second half on a 15-6 run to take a 45-38 lead in the middle of the third period. USF knocked down five of its first seven shots to take its seven-point lead in the first 5:30 following the intermission. The Bulls finished out the third quarter by out-scoring Tulsa 15-to-11 in the final five minutes and 22-to-11 overall for the period.

It took Tulsa 3:26 into the fourth quarter to score its first basket of the final period, but after that Tulsa scored 21 points in the final six minutes for a 23-to-20 point scoring advantage in the final quarter. Clark's jumper at the 6:34 mark ended Tulsa's scoring drought, cutting the USF lead to 13 points, 58-45.

USF pushed the lead back to 15 points at 62-47 with 5:23 remaining in the game. The Hurricane then went on an 11-2 run over the next two minutes and 30 seconds to cut the deficit to six points, 64-58, with 2:34 left on the game clock. The Bulls made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch in holding off the Hurricane for the six-point win.

Tulsa shot 46.7 percent for the game, a percentage point better the USF's 45.6 percent, but the Hurricane had 14 turnovers to just eight for the Bulls.

Tulsa played the Bulls tight in the first 10 minutes of the game, trailing by just one point, 15-14 after the first quarter, and took a two-point lead into halftime. Holmes, getting her second start of the season, scored a team-high eight first-period points.

USF scored the first six points of the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead. Erika Wakefield's two free throws were Tulsa's first two points to start an 18-9 run to close out the first half for a 32-30 Hurricane lead.

After shooting 33-percent from the field in the first 10 minutes, the Hurricane made 7-of-13 field goals in the second quarter for 54-percent. Tulsa maintained a 14-6 scoring advantage in the paint against the Bulls.

Clark had 11 first-half points and Holmes added 10 points, while USF's Williams had a game-high 16 points through the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa closes out the regular season this Saturday on the road at Cincinnati for a 12 noon (CT) tipoff. The American Athletic Conference Tournament will begin next Friday, March 4, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.