Tulsa vs. UTEP Preview

Saturday, December 29 ~ 2:00 pm Central ~ Donald W. Reynolds Center ~ Tulsa, Okla.

Tickets: Single game tickets are $5 general admission and season passes are $50. Tickets can be purchased ONLINE, at the Reynolds Center ticket office or by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688).

Promotions: End Years Day - Everybody celebrates New Years except here we also celebrate the End of 2018! Be sure to share your favorite TU Memories from 2018 with the #EndYearsDay. We will have an all sports highlight video and countdown the end of 2018 for TU Athletics.

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.

Video: Watch Live on TulsaHurricane.com

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ UTEP

2018-19 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ UTEP

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 8th Year
Career Record: 244-223 (16 years)
Record at Tulsa: 97-130 (8 years)

UTEP: Kevin Baker (Austin College, 1995), 2nd Year
Career Record: 364-154 (17 years)
Record at UTEP: 20-23 (2 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
G          11       Maddie Bittle, 5-8, Fr., Bixby, Okla., 5.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg
G          21       Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, So., Plano, Texas, 5.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg
G          22       Morgan Brady, 5-7, So., Hensley, Ark., 9.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg
F          32       Desiree Lewis, 5-10, Fr., Converse, Texas, 4.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F          33       Crystal Polk, 6-2, Sr., Lawton, Okla., 13.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg

UTEP's Probable Starters
G          00       Jordan Jenkins, 5-3, So., Tennessee Colony, Texas, 3.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F          3          Jordan Alexander, 5-11, Sr., Dallas, Texas, 7.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg
F          5          Zuzanna Puc, 6-3, Jr., Poznan, Poland, 12.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg
G          12       Ariona Gill, 6-0, Jr., Las Vegas, Nev., 11.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg
G          44       Katarina Zec, 5-11, Jr., Belgrade, Serbia, 8.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg

In the Last Game

Crystal Polk's 20 points wasn't enough as Tulsa fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks, 61-59,
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.

Facing UTEP

UTEP has a 3-9 overall record
The Miners and Golden Hurricane have two common opponents, with both teams falling to Arkansas State, while TU earned a 12-point win over Abilene Chrisitan and the Miners lost by one to the Wildcats
Two UTEP players average double-digit points, including Zuzanna Puc (12.8) and Ariona Gill (11.2)
Jordan Alexander has a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game
UTEP has a 21-10 lead in the all-time series with Tulsa, including the last 15-straight, and a 97-66 win in El Paso, Texas, during the 2013-14 season

Twelve 2018 Postseason Teams Highlight 2018-19 Schedule

TU will take on 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 .503 (266-529) field goal percentage in her career
Kendrian Elliott is in 10th place with a .474 (152-321) field goal percentage

Knocking Down Three's

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 97 three-pointers in her career, which ranks 10th in school history
Gaulden needs six more to tie Kara Vaughan (2007-11) who has 103 in ninth place

Mossman Has 244 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 244 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 97 wins at TU
Mossman has the most wins by a TU women's basketball coach

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

TU 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. UTEP Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

Tulsa vs. UTEP Preview

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Morgan Brady

Kendrian Elliott

Alexis Gaulden

Rebecca Lescay

Desiree Lewis

Crystal Polk

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