Tulsa Gives Abilene Christian its First Loss 75-63

Wednesday, November 28

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

4-3

Abilene Christian

6-1

Abilene Christian

Tulsa

Tulsa Gives Abilene Christian its First Loss 75-63

11/28/2018 9:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa's Alexis Gaulden had a game-high 24 points to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 75-63 victory over the Abilene Christian Wildcats Wednesday night in front of 872 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa held the Wildcats to 16 points below its season average for its fourth win of the year to improve to 4-3, while the loss was the first for Abilene Christian, dropping to 6-1 on the season.
Abilene Christian came into the game averaging 79.1 points per game and out-scoring the opposition by nearly 24 points.

The Wildcats scoring output decreased each quarter going form 19 in the first 10 minutes to 17 in the second period, 14 in the third and 13 in the final stanza.

It was a game that the Hurricane led most of the way, trailing only in the second quarter for less than four minutes, and a game that saw Tulsa turn 22 Wildcat turnovers into 32 points. The Hurricane had only seven turnovers in the game amounting to just four Abilene points.
"One of our keys was to attack them. We felt like we were more athletic than they were so we needed to attack the rim, get by people and get to the line. The fact that we got to the line 26 times indicates that we were being aggressive and getting to the rim," said Tulsa head coach Matilda Mossman.

Gaulden led four players in double-figures for the Hurricane as Morgan Brady and Crystal Polk added 14 points each and freshman Maddie Bittle had 13 points. Gaulden and Brady shared the team-lead for assists with five each and Brady grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Dominique Golightly led the visitors with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hurricane out-scored the Wildcats 39-27 in the second half, including 18-13 to close out the final quarter. Tulsa led by as many as 15 points twice in the fourth period at 73-58 on a Crystal Polk layup with 2:30 to play, and 74-59 at the 1:32 mark.

Tulsa opened the second half on a 7-2 run that gave the Hurricane a 5-point cushion in the first three minutes, 43-38. Tulsa increased its lead to nine points in the period at 53-44 and again at 55-46 before closing the third stanza ahead 57-50.

Tulsa jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Wildcats scored their first basket at the 7:35 mark. After Abilene closed the gap to one point at 6-5, the Hurricane increased its lead to eight points, 22-14, with 0:51 left on the first quarter clock. The Wildcats closed the period on a 5-2 run, but still trailed at the quarter break 24-19.

Brady's 3-pointer put Tulsa back ahead by eight points at 27-19 to start the second quarter. Over the next four minutes, Abilene Christian whittled the lead down and took its first lead of the game, 30-28, on an Alyssa Adams layup at the 5-minute mark.

In the final 3:45 of the first half, the game was tied three times with three lead changes as the two teams went into halftime tied up at 36.

The Wildcats shot 50-percent from the field and three-point range, while Tulsa only converted on 37-percent of its shots and 33-percent from behind the arc. The Hurricane scored 18 points off of 12 first-half Wildcat turnovers.

Gaulden and Brady tied from the scoring lead in the first 20 minutes for the Hurricane with nine points apiece, while Abilene's Golightly led all first-half scorers with 16 points.

Tulsa goes to Arizona for the Arizona State Classic this weekend as the Hurricane opens the tournament against Alabama on Saturday at 4:15 p.m., and on Sunday will play either host Arizona State or Louisiana Tech. Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center on Monday, Dec. 17 against Little Rock in a 7 p.m. game.