Tulsa Drops 60-44 Decision at UCF

Wednesday, January 16

Orlando, Fla.

5:00 pm

Tulsa

9-8

UCF

15-2

Tulsa

UCF

Tulsa Drops 60-44 Decision at UCF

1/16/2019 7:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

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

The Tulsa women's basketball team dropped a 60-44 decision to UCF on Wednesday evening at CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla. The Golden Hurricane fell to 9-8 on the season and 3-1 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Knights moved to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in the league.

"I am proud of the fact that we held them to 38-percent shooting and 60-points, but we didn't generate any offense ourselves," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "We just couldn't get enough touches for Crystal and Alexis in the first half. We were able to get inside more in the second half, but we missed too many opportunities. I think the fact that we couldn't get into a rhythm offensively made us have too many unforced turnovers and gave them too many points off turnovers."

Crystal Polk and Alexis Gaulden each had a team-best 13 points, while Desiree Lewis tallied seven points, and Lewis and Polk both had a team-leading six rebounds.

UCF had a 16-6 advantage in steals, a narrow 37-35 edge in rebounds and a 2-1 lead in blocks, while Tulsa had an 8-6 advantage in assists.

The Knights had a 28-16 lead in points in the paint, a 28-6 advantage in points off the bench, a 19-10 lead in fast break points, and a 16-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

Tulsa shot just 25-percent from the field, including 18-percent from behind the arc, and 74-percent from the free throw line, while the Knights shot 38-percent from the field, 16-percent from three-point range and 70-percent from the charity stripe.

There were three lead changes and one tied score in the first quarter, but at the end of the frame UCF had a 16-11 lead.

TU was held to without a field goal in the second quarter, going 0-of-11 from the field, including 0-of-5 from behind the arc. All six of TU's points in the period came from the free throw line, hitting six-of-eight attempts for 75-percent, and the Knights had a 22-14 lead at the break.

Tulsa had a 12-11 scoring edge over UCF in the third quarter, but the Knights maintained a 38-29. TU came out of the lockerroom at halftime shooting 37-percent, and held the Knights to just 22-percent in the third.

Polk closed the deficit to just nine points, 44-35, at the 6:56 mark of the final period, as she hit two free throws, and then Gaulden had a layup at the 5:00 mark to make it an eight-point game (44-36). UCF outscored Tulsa, 16-8, in the final five minutes for the 16-point victory.

Korneila Wright had a game-best 18 points, while Kayla Thigpen added 15 and Jamesha Paul scored 10 to lead the Knights.

Tulsa will return to action on Saturday, January 19 against Cincinnati. Game time is set for 2:00 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.