Tulsa Women’s Basketball vs. #22 USF Preview

Saturday, January 7 ~ 6:00 pm Central ~ Sun Dome ~ Tampa, Fla.

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.

Live Audio: Listen Here

Video: Watch Live on ESPN3

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ USF

2016-17 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ USF

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

USF Facebook: USF WBB

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

USF Twitter: USF WBB

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 6th Year
Career Record: 224-184 (14 years)
Record at Tulsa: 77-91 (6 years)

USF: Jose Fernandez (FIU, 1994), 17th Year
Record: 285-226 (17 years)
Record at USF: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F     00     Kendrian Elliott, 6-2, Fr-HS, Wichita, Kan., 9.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg
G     3       Erika Wakefield, 5-4, Jr-2L, Moore, Okla., 13.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.4 apg
G     10     Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Fr-HS, Broken Arrow, Okla., 9.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg
G     13     Ashley Hughes, 5-7, Sr-3L, Sulphur, Okla., 3.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg
F     35     Liesl Spoerl, 6-1, Jr-2L, Tulsa, Okla., 4.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg

USF's Probable Starters
G     11     Ariadna Pujol, 6-1, Sr, Mataro, Spain, 14.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.2 apg
F     12     Maria Jespersen, 6-0, Jr, Arhus, Denmark, 14.0 ppg, 9.4 rpg
G     22     Laia Flores, 5-7, Jr, Mataro, Spain, 9.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg
F     23     Tamara Henshaw, 6-1, Fr, Palm Coast, Fla., 6.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg
F     33     Kitija Laksa, 6-0, So, Riga, Latvia, 20.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg

In the Last Game
     Erika Wakefield and Alexis Gaulden both tallied 13 points to lead Tulsa to a 57-52 win over Memphis on Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
     Liesl Spoerl and Ebony Parker both added six points, while Kendrian Elliott, Ashley Hughes and Crystal Polk tallied four points each. Elliott had a team-best nine rebounds, eight of which were on the defensive end, Gaulden and Tatyana Perez had two assists, and Elliott and Hughes totaled two steals.

Scouting the Opponent
     USF has a 12-1 overall record, including a 62-53 win over Tulane in their last contest. The Bulls are led by Kitija Laksa with 20.4 points per game, while Ariadna Pujol adds 14.5 ppg and Maria Jespersen posts 14.0 ppg. Jespersen has a team-best 9.4 rebounds per contest, Laia Flores has 90 assists and 15 steals, and Tamara Henshaw has a team-high 13 blocks.

Against the Opponent
     This will be the third meeting between TU and USF, as the Bulls have won both previous meetings, including 72-66 win last season in Tulsa.

In the Nation
     Tulsa ranks 43rd in the nation in three-point field goals made (108), 46th in three-point field goal defense (27.7), 63rd in three-point field goal percentage (.352), 65th in three-point field goals attempted (307), 67th in turnovers per game (14.4), 71st in three-point field goals per game (7.2) and 74th in free-throw percentage (72.6).
     Erika Wakefield is 108th in minutes played (477), 139th in free throw percentage (78.9), 142nd in free throws made (45), and 241st in assists per game (3.4), while Kendrian Elliott ranks 163rd in rebounds per game (7.6) and 226th in blocked shots per game (1.08).

Stepping Up
     Nine of Tulsa's 13 players have scored in double figures this season. Erika Wakefield has scored in double figures 11 times, while Tatyana Perez has six double-digit games, and Kendrian Elliott and Alexis Gaulden both have five double-figure scoring contests. Ebony Parker has three double-digit games, and Crystal Polk, Jessica Pongonis and Liesl Spoerl all have two double-figure contests. Shug Dickson has one double-figure scoring game on the year.

20+ Scorers
     Alexis Gaulden's 23 points against Saint Louis marked the third-straight game a TU player has scored 20+ points. Ebony Parker scored 20 points against #19/20 Oklahoma and Kendrian Elliott had 20 points against Arkansas State. Erika Wakefield also scored 20+ points as she tallied 21 in the season opener at UMKC and scored a career-high 25 points at Houston (1-1-17).

The Losses that Could Have Been Wins
     In Tulsa's 10 losses this season, the Golden Hurricane has lost seven of those by single digits, including five games by two or less baskets. Tulsa fell to Arkansas State and South Dakota by 3 each, Indiana State by 4, Houston and Little Rock by 5 each, Arkansas by 7 and Oral Roberts by 8.
     TU also had a double-digit lead over three of the opponents, before falling in the contests [15-point lead over Little Rock (lost by five), a 14-point lead over Indiana State (lost by four) and a 13-point lead over Arkansas State (lost by 3)].

Shooting the Ball
     Kendrian Elliott has a team-high .494 field goal percentage. Jessica Pongonis is TU's next best shooter with 46.7-percent, followed by Erika Wakefield at 45.4-percent.

In Tulsa's Top 10
     Ashley Hughes is second in free throw percentage in school history with a .871 clip (34 of 39).

Behind the Arc
     Eight of Tulsa players have combined for 108 three-pointers this season, for a 7.2 three-pointers per game average. TU's opponents have hit 69 three's for 4.6 per game.
     Alexis Gaulden has a team-best 27 trey's, while Ebony Parker has 24 and Tatyana Perez has 22 three's on the year.

Mossman Has 224 Career Wins
     Matilda Mossman has collected 224 career victories, including 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 77 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.

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. #22 USF Preview

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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