Kendrian Elliott’s 38 Points Leads Tulsa to a 79-77 Win Over Arkansas State

Saturday, November 9

Reynolds Center

2:00 pm

Tulsa

1-1,0-0AAC

Arkansas State

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Arkansas St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Kendrian Elliott’s 38 Points Leads Tulsa to a 79-77 Win Over Arkansas State

11/9/2019 5:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score in PDF

Kendrian Elliott scored a career-high 38 points to lead Tulsa to a 79-77 win over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Both teams moved to 1-1 on the season.

Elliott's 38 points tied the school record for points in a game set by Jillian Robbins against Nevada on February 19, 2005, and her 16 field goals made is a school record, topping Robbins and Ashley Clark who both had 14 field goals made in a contest.

"We just felt like the more possessions we could have touches in the paint, that was our strength," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "We got the ball to Kendrian early and she was scoring effortlessly, but then we'd get away from that and she didn't get touches for a long time. She could have had 50 tonight if we stayed with what was working for us."

Morgan Brady added 16 points, while Addison Richards scored nine and KK Rodriguez posted seven for TU. Elliott pulled down 12 rebounds for her eighth career double-double to rank 10^th in school history, while her two blocks moves her into ninth place in school history, and Alexis Gaulden's eight assists moves her into 10^th place in that category.

After leading by as many as 18 in the third quarter, 53-35, ASU battled back to make it a three-point game, 70-67, with just 2:39 remaining in the contest, and then a one-point game, 72-71, with 1:22 to play. TU then climbed to a 77-71 advantage with 20-seconds remaining, but Jireh Washington scored a field goal, and Payton Tennison recorded a three-pointer and a free throw, while Brady and Elliott had just one free throw each for the final 79-77 score.

"We got back on our heels too much," Mossman said. "They put their head down and drove it at us, and the ball was going in. It was a good gut check for us, both teams had 16 made free throws and both teams had five made three pointers, but there was a field goal in there somewhere that was made by somebody that was the difference in the game. As a team you don't know when that possession is going to matter so we have to learn from that."

ASU had a 56-40 lead in rebounds, while TU had a 24-8 lead in assists. The Red Wolves earned 23 second chance points in the contest, comparted to the Hurricane's nine.

After four tied scores to start the game, including an 11-11 score at the 2:45 mark, TU recorded the next six points to close out the first frame with a 17-11 advantage. Elliott and Brady both had a team-leading eight points in the first quarter.

TU climbed to a 12-point lead, 27-15, with 7:02 on the clock in the second quarter, before the Red Wolves chipped away at the deficit and made it a three-point game, 28-25, at the 3:54 mark. The Golden Hurricane led by just three points again at the 3:11 mark, 30-27, before ending the frame on a 6-2 run for a 36-29 advantage at the break.

Tulsa shot at a 41-percent clip from the field and 66-percent from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes, but was a dismal 2-of-12 from behind the arc for 16-percent. Arkansas State shot 35-percent from the field, 28-percent from three-point range and just 30-percent (3-of-10) from the free throw line in the first half.

The Golden Hurricane took a 42-31 lead at the 8:40 mark of the third quarter and TU never led by less than double-digits from that point on in the period. Tulsa had a 23-17 scoring advantage in the frame and led by a game-best 18 points at the 6:10 mark.

The Red Wolves were led by Washington with 24 points, while Peyton Martin added 18 points and a team-best 14 rebounds, and Morgan Wallace totaled 12 points.

Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, November 13 against Oklahoma State beginning at 7:00 pm at the Reynolds Center.