Tulsa Battles Arkansas to the End, Falling 61-59

Thursday, December 20

Reynolds Center

2:00 pm

Tulsa

5-7

Arkansas

10-3

Arkansas

Tulsa

Tulsa Battles Arkansas to the End, Falling 61-59

12/20/2018 4:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Crystal Polk's 20 points wasn't enough as Tulsa fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks, 61-59, Thursday afternoon in front of 1,222 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Morgan Brady added 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Hurricane, while Arkansas' Chelsea Dungee led all scorers with 23 points.

It was a game with 13 lead changes and nine ties as both teams shot under 40-percent from the field and 30-percent from three-point range. The two teams combined for 91 rebounds, Tulsa with 50 and UA with 41, while Tulsa tied a season-high 23 turnovers and Arkansas turned the ball over 18 times, one less than its season high.

"We struggled to score early in the fourth quarter and got down six, but we kept fighting and took the lead back with about 90 seconds to play," said Tulsa head coach Matilda Mossman. "That is one thing about this team is their great resiliency."

Tulsa led 43-39 after three quarters, but Arkansas scored the first 10 points of the fourth period to take a 49-43 lead with 7:20 to play, the biggest lead of the game for the visitors.

Tulsa cut its deficit to two points before retaking the lead 56-55 on a Brady trey with 1:49 on the clock. The Razorbacks scored to take the lead at 57-56, but on Tulsa's trip down the floor Polk's jumper put the Hurricane back ahead 58-57 at the 1:26 mark. Tulsa's one-point lead didn't stand for long as Arkansas went back up 59-58 at the 1:01 mark.

Tulsa's Rebecca Lescay made 1-of-2 free throws with 0:15 remaining on the clock to tie the score at 59. After an Arkansas timeout, the Razorback's Malica Monk drove for a layup and a 61-59 lead.

The Hurricane had 0:08 remaining on the clock to tie or win the game, but two attempts, a three-pointer from Polk and a put-back by Kayla Moutry, didn't fall for Tulsa.

The Razorbacks outscored Tulsa in the final stanza by six points, 22-16.

The two teams went back and forth in the first quarter with five lead changes, until the Hurricane went ahead by three points, 15-12, on a Desiree Lewis layup. Tulsa expanded that lead to five points, but Arkansas scored two three-pointers in the final 0:52 to take an 18-17 lead after one period.

It was a low scoring second quarter as Tulsa scored 10 points to Arkansas' eight. Each team shot under 25-percent from the field in the period.

Tulsa held a 27-26 lead at intermission as 19 of those points came off of Razorback turnovers. Both teams had double-digit turnovers in the first 20 minutes, 11 for Arkansas and 10 for the Hurricane. Tulsa shot just 32-percent from the field and Arkansas was at 31-percent for the first half.

Polk and Brady led all first-half scorers with eight points apiece, while Brady had a team-high five rebounds.

Tulsa will be in action next to close out the 2018 portion of the season on Saturday, Dec. 29 with a 2:00 p.m. contest against the UTEP Miners.