Tulsa vs. Alabama Preview

Saturday, December 1 ~ 4:15 pm Central ~ Wells Fargo Arena ~ Tempe, Ariz.

Game Notes: Tulsa

Radio: TU's games can be heard on 93.5 FM The Jet, KWTU 88.7 FM HD2, free on the iHeart Radio App and online at TulsaHurricane.com. Brandon Hart calls play-by-play.

Live Audio: Listen Here

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ Alabama

2018-19 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Alabama

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 8th Year
Career Record: 243-219 (16 years)
Record at Tulsa: 96-126 (8 years)

Alabama: Kristy Curry (Northeast Louisiana, 1988), 6h Year
Career Record: 398-229 (20 years)
Record at Alabama: 89-80 (6 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          10       Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Jr., Broken Arrow, Okla., 13.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg
G          11       Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Fr., Bixby, Okla., 6.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg
F          20       Elin Hrafnkelsdottir, 6-1, Fr., Kopavogur, Iceland, 3.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg
G          22       Morgan Brady, 5-7, So., Hensley, Ark., 5.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg
F          33       Crystal Polk, 6-2, Sr., Lawton, Okla., 13.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg

Alabama's Probable Starters
G          4          Cierra Johnson, 5-10, Jr., Mobile, Ala., 12.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg
G          5          Hannah Barber, 5-6, Fr., Homewood, Ala., 2.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg
G          23       Shaquera Wade, 6-0, Sr., Huntsville, Ala., 10.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg
F          25       Ashley Knight, 6-5, Jr., Austin, Texas, 3.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg
F          40       Jasmine Walker, 6-3, Jr., Mongtomery, Ala., 14.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg

In the Last Game

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
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
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
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

Facing Alabama

Alabama is 5-1 on the season, including a 59-47 win over Stetson in their last contest
Three players are averaging double-digit points, including Jasmine Walker (14.7), Cierra Johnson (12.0) and Shaquera Wade (10.3)
Walker also has a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game
This will be the first meeting between Tulsa and Alabama on the women's basketball court

Perfect in Tulsa

Tulsa is 4-0 in the city of Tulsa this year
TU has won all three home games, and picked up a win at Oral Roberts

Building Off Last Year

Tulsa returns 77-percent of its scoring and 88-percent of its rebounding from a year ago
TU lost in The American quarterfinals, but not before upsetting No. 5 Houston, 98-72, in the first round
The Golden Hurricane ranked 73rd in fewest turnovers (443), 81st in free throw percentage (73.3) and 86th in turnovers per game (14.3) in the nation last year
Tulsa had the smallest margin of loss to UConn in the league (18 points)

Twelve 2018 Postseason Teams Highlight 2018-19 Schedule

TU will take on a potential 12 postseason teams from the 2017-18 season this year
NCAA Tournament teams include American, Arizona State, Belmont, Little Rock, UConn and USF
WNIT teams include Alabama, Cincinnati, Houston, Saint Louis, Stephen F. Austin and UCF

An Accurate Shot

Crystal Polk is in fifth place with a .506 (234-462) field goal percentage in her career
Kendrian Elliott is in 10th place with a .473 (151-319) field goal percentage

Knocking Down Three's

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 90 three-pointers in her career, which ranks 10th in school history
Gaulden needs 13 more to tie Kara Vaughan (2007-11) who has 103 in ninth place

Mossman Has 243 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 243 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 96 wins at TU
Mossman has the most wins by a TU women's basketball coach

Dickson's Scoring

Shug Dickson's 33 points against Saint Louis (12-19-17) ranks third in school history for points scored in a single game by a player, as she tied the mark hit by Carla Morrow, Jillian Robbins (twice), Taleya Mayberry and Ashley Clark
Dickson scored 20+ points in three-straight games in 2016-17, including 21 points (Temple), 21 points (#1 UConn) and 22 points (UCF), and in three-straight games in 2017-18, including 23 points (UCF), 21 points (USF) and 29 points (Temple)
Dickson was the first freshman in school history (dating back to the 1996-97 season) to score 20+ points in three-straight games
Dickson became the sixth player overall to reach this feat (Taleya Mayberry, Larrissa Williams, Jillian Robbins, Allison Curtin and Lila Osceola did it before her.)
Dickson has scored 20+ points in 14 games, including nine times during the 2017-18 season

Freshmen Made Marks

Morgan Brady and Rebecca Lescay concluded their freshmen season's on the Tulsa Freshman Single-Season Records list
Brady ranked second in free throw percentage (.824)
Lescay ranked fifth in games played (31)

Tulsa Picked 12th in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll

In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 12th by the league's coaches
Tulsa finished tied for 11th in the league in 2017-18

The 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship

The American Athletic Conference and Mohegan Sun Arena have agreed to a multi-year agreement for Mohegan Sun to host the Conference's Women's Basketball Championship through 2020
The 2019 championship will mark the sixth consecutive year the tournament has been played at the Uncasville, Conn. arena
The 2019 tournament is set for March 8-11

Tulsa in The American Championship

Tulsa has a 3-4 mark in American Athletic Conference Championship play
TU earned wins in the first round of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 tournaments
The Golden Hurricane lost matches in the quarterfinals in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018

Tulsa in Postseason

Tulsa has made five postseason appearances
TU earned WNIT bids in 2004, 2005 and 2015
The Hurricane played in the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2013
Tulsa 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)
The Hurricane has a 2-5 overall mark in postseason play

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 vs. Alabama Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Ashley Clark

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Elin Hrafnkelsdottir

Rebecca Lescay

Crystal Polk

Tulsa vs. Alabama Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Ashley Clark

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Elin Hrafnkelsdottir

Rebecca Lescay

Crystal Polk

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