Tulsa Women’s Hoops Earn Mayor’s Cup with 76-68 Win Over Oral Roberts

Saturday, November 17

Tulsa, Okla. (at ORU)

2:00 pm

Tulsa

2-2

Oral Roberts

1-3

Tulsa

Oral Roberts

Tulsa Women’s Hoops Earn Mayor’s Cup with 76-68 Win Over Oral Roberts

11/17/2018 4:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Final Stats in PDF
Final Stats in HTML
Season Stats in PDF

Alexis Gaulden scored a career-high 30 points to lead Tulsa to a 76-68 win over crosstown rival Oral Roberts in the Mayor's Cup on Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center on the ORU campus. The Golden Hurricane moved to 2-2 on the season, while the Golden Eagles fell to 1-3 overall.

"This game is a big rivalry because you are playing for something in the Mayor's Cup," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "Our kids did a good job in their preparation and made this game important. We want to play hard and play together, and we accomplished both of those things today. I think for our seniors that this is huge because when you are a senior you want to leave here knowing you won your last game against ORU."

This was TU's first win in the Mayor's Cup since the 2013-14 season and it was the Hurricane's ninth win in 40 meetings.

TU scored a season-best 76 points and had a season-high 45 rebounds in the contest.

"It is very special," Gaulden said. "I felt like we played for 40 minutes today and we've not been able to say that yet this season. We didn't back down and kept fighting to the end."

Crystal Polk added 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for her fourth career double-double and first of the season. Rebecca Lescay and Kayla Moutry both totaled five points, while Desiree Lewis tallied four, and Moutry pulled down five boards.

Tulsa had a 45-30 lead in rebounds, 29 of which were on the defensive end, a 9-7 advantage in assists, and a 4-2 lead in blocks, while Oral Roberts had a 7-6 edge in steals.

TU shot 43-percent from the field, but just 18-percent from three-point range, and was 17-of-22 from the free throw line for 77-percent. ORU shot 44-percent from the field, 40-percent from behind the arc and 64-percent from the charity stripe.

Polk had six points and five rebounds in the first quarter, but the Golden Hurricane trailed 15-10, at the end of the frame.

TU battled back to tie the contest, 23-all, with 6:33 on the clock in the second quarter, and again at 30-30 with just 1:24 to play before the break. TU had a 34-30 advantage, but a three-pointer at the buzzer by Lakota Beatty made it a one-point game at halftime. Gaulden led the comeback as she tallied 15 points in the frame, and the TU players combined for a 55-percent clip from the field in the quarter.

Neither team had more than a four-point lead in the third quarter with two tied scores and three lead changes, but ORU had a 53-52 advantage with 10 minutes to play.

Tulsa started the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run, keeping the Golden Eagles scoreless in the frame until a layup by Jordan Gilbert at the 5:58 mark. TU took a 10-point lead, 65-55, with just over five minutes to play, and led by as many as 13 points twice before ORU cut their deficit to eight for the final score.

ORU was led by Beatty with 18 points, while Gilbert tallied 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Tulsa will return to action on Tuesday, November 20 against Saint Louis. Game time is set for 7:00 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.