Tulsa Drops 68-52 Decision at American

Friday, November 9

Washington, D.C.

6:00 pm

Tulsa

1-1

American

1-0

Tulsa

American

Tulsa Drops 68-52 Decision at American

11/9/2018 8:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

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

Maddie Bittle scored 15 points in her first collegiate contest, but it wasn't enough as Tulsa dropped a 68-52 decision to American on Friday night at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. TU fell to 1-1 on the season, while AU moved to 1-0 overall.

"I think the first quarter was everything," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "We couldn't make a shot in the first quarter, which becomes mental and players tend to lose their energy and struggle on defense. We continued to battle, cut it to seven, got down again, but we battled. Thank goodness for Maddie's three's that helped propel us at the end."

Bittle went 5-of-7 from behind the arc for her 15 points, making Tulsa's only three's of the contest, while her teammates were 0-10 from behind the arc. Addison Richards tallied nine-points, seven of which came from the free throw line, while Desiree Lewis added eight points. Crystal Polk pulled down six rebounds, Rebecca Lescay had three assists and Bittle had two steals in the contest.

"Maddie has been in a boot for three weeks with shin splints and got released Monday to practice so this was her first opportunity to play and she made the best of it," Mossman said. "She is one of our best shooters and gives us good energy, so I'm not surprised by her scoring tonight."

Both teams had 37 rebounds, but 31 of American's were on the defensive end. The Eagles had a 14-9 lead in assists and a 2-0 advantage in blocks, while both teams had six steals.

AU jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game, and took a 23-8 advantage at the end of the first frame. Tulsa hit just 25-percent of their first quarter shots (4-of-16), while the Eagles shot a 66-percent clip.

Tulsa had a narrow 7-5 scoring advantage in the second quarter to trail 28-15 at halftime. The Golden Hurricane held the Eagles to just 2-of-11 from the field for 18-percent in the second 10-minute period.

TU cut their deficit to single digits, trailing by nine, 37-28, with 3:22 left to play in the third quarter. A pair of free throws made by Richards made it a seven-point game (37-30), but the Eagles outscored the Hurricane, 9-3, to close out the frame with a 46-33 advantage. Both teams had 18 points in the third quarter.

In the final frame, American had just a 22-19 scoring advantage, but TU couldn't overcome their first-quarter slump.

TU shot 27-percent from the field, including 29-percent from three-point range, and 51-percent from the free throw line, compared to American's 50-percent from the field, 47-percent from behind the arc and 80-percent from the charity stripe.

Tulsa will return to action on Monday, November 12 at Belmont. Game time is set for 5:00 pm Central in Nashville, Tenn.