Tulsa vs. Abilene Christian Preview

Thursday, December 5

Abilene, Texas

5:30 pm

Tulsa

Abilene Christian

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa vs. Abilene Christian Preview

12/3/2019 11:42:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Thursday, December 5 ~ 5:30 pm Central ~ Moody Coliseum ~ Abilene, Texas

Game Notes: Tulsa

Radio: TU's games can be heard on 93.5 FM The Jet, KWTU 88.7 FM HD2 and free on the iHeart Radio App. Brandon Hart calls play-by-play.

Live Audio: Listen Here

Live Video: Watch Here

Live Stats: Click Here

Rosters: Tulsa ~ Abilene Christian

2019-20 Season Stats: Tulsa ~ Abilene Christian

Tulsa Facebook: TulsaHurricane ~ TulsaWBasketball

Tulsa Twitter: TulsaHurricane ~ TUWBasketball

Tulsa Instagram: TulsaHurricanePics ~ TulsaWBB

The Coaches
Tulsa: Matilda Mossman (Western Kentucky, 1979), 9th Year
Career Record: 255-2378 (17 years)
Record at Tulsa: 108-145 (9 years)

Abilene Christian: Julie Goodenough (UT Arlington, 1991), 8th Year
Career Record: 438-289 (26 years)
Record at ACU: 149-69 (8 years)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
F          00        Kendrian Elliott, 6-2, Sr., Wichita, Kan., 17.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg
G         10        Alexis Gaulden, 5-8, Sr., Broken Arrow, Okla., 9.5 ppg, 5.0 apg
G         11        Maddie Bittle, 5-8, So., Bixby, Okla., 7.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg
G         21        Rebecca Lescay, 5-8, Jr., Plano, Texas, 7.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg
F          32        Desiree Lewis, 5-10, So., Converse, Texas, 6.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg

Abilene Christian's Probable Starters
G         3          Dominique Golightly, 5-11, Sr., Chickasha, Okla., 12.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg
G         10        Breanna Wright, 5-8, Sr., Jarrell, Texas, 14.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg
G         30        Anna McLeod, 6-1, Jr., Houston, Texas, 11.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg
F          32        Makayla Mabry, 6-1, Jr., San Antonio, Texas, 6.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg
F          44        Lexie Ducat, 6-1, Sr., Brock, Texas, 13.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg

In the Last Game

Three Tulsa players scored in double figures, but the Golden Hurricane dropped a 61-60 decision to Marquette on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic in Moraga, Calif.
Down 61-60 with two seconds to play, Alexis Gaulden was at the free throw line, but missed both, and although Rebecca Lescay got a steal on the Golden Eagles inbounds play, there was no time remaining to get a last-second shot off.
Kendrian Elliott earned her fourth double-double of the season and 10th of her career as she had a team-leading 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Maddie Bittle netted a career-high 16 points, and Lescay added 10. Gaulden finished with five points, pulled down seven rebounds, had seven assists and three steals in the contest.

Facing Abilene Christian

Marquette is 5-1 on the season, with their only loss on the season coming at Oklahoma (78-65)
Five players average double-digit points for the Wildcats, including Breanna Wright (14.0), Lexie Ducat (13.3), Dominique Golightly (12.0), Anna McLeod (11.7) and Madi Miller (10.2)
Ducat has a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game, while Wright has team-highs of 28 assists and 18 steals
Tulsa has won both previous meetings with ACU, including a 75-63 win last season in Tulsa

In the Nation

Tulsa ranks 92nd in both steals and turnovers forced
Kendrian Elliott ranks 12th in double-doubles (4), 19th in field goal percentage (.623), 63rd in field goals made (48), 65th in points per game (17.9), 80th in blocked shots (11), 84th in total rebounds (62), 85th in rebounds per game (8.9), 86th in total points (125) and 91st in blocks per game (1.57),
Alexis Gaulden ranks 48th in assists per game (5.0)
NOTE: Above numbers through NCAA Rankings 12/1/19.

An Accurate Shot

Kendrian Elliott ranks fifth (.497 = 238-479) among the school's-best field goal shooters
Morgan Brady ranks 10th (.362 = 64-177) among the program's best three-point field goal shooters

Double-Doubles and Blocks

Kendrian Elliott has recorded 10 double-doubles in her career, including four this season, to rank fourth in school history
Elliott also has 60 blocks, ranking eighth in school history

Knocking Down Three's and Getting Assists

Alexis Gaulden has knocked down 150 three-pointers in her career, which ranks in fifth place on the school's all-time list
Gaulden needs nine more to tie current assistant coach Taleya Mayberry (2009-13), who is in fourth place with 159 three-pointers made
Gaulden also ranks among the schools' top 10 in assists with 268 for ninth place

Record-Setting Game

Kendrian Elliott registered 38 points against Arkansas State (11-9-19), which tied the school record for points in a game set by Jillian Robbins against Nevada on February 19, 2005.
Elliott's 16 field goals made in the game was a school record, topping Robbins and Ashley Clark who both had 14 field goals made in a game

Back-to-Back-to-Back

Desiree Lewis and Kendrian Elliott have both had back-to-back-to-back double-doubles in their careers, making them the fifth and sixth player in school history to reach this milestone, respectively
Lewis is just the third to do it in her freshman year, while Elliott achieved this as a senior
Kendrian Elliott had back-to-back-to-back double-doubles to start the 2019-20 season against Stephen F. Austin (13p, 12r), Arkansas State (38p, 12r) and Oklahoma State (16p, 10r)
Desiree Lewis hit back-to-back-to-back double-doubles against Wichita State (12p, 10r), Memphis (10p, 12r) and ECU (16p, 13r) in the 2018-19 season
This feat has been accomplished just 16 times in school history

Mossman Has 255 Career Wins

Matilda Mossman has collected 255 career victories
She has 67 wins at Arkansas, 80 wins at Kansas State and currently 108 wins at TU
Mossman has the most wins by a TU women's basketball coach
Mossman earned her 100th career win at TU in a 46-39 win over Memphis on January 9, 2019

Thirteen 2019 Postseason Teams Highlight 2019-20 Schedule

TU will take on 13 postseason teams from the 2018-19 season, including NCAA Tournament teams Abilene Christian, Little Rock, Marquette, UCF and UConn, and WNIT teams Arkansas, Cincinnati, Houston, Loyola Marymount, Stephen F. Austin, Stetson, USF and Western Kentucky.
Additionally, 23 teams posted double-digit wins last season, including nine teams with 20-or-more victories.

2018-19 Single Season Marks

Morgan Brady and Alexis Gaulden earned their way onto the Tulsa Single-Season Leaders list a year ago
Brady ranked seventh in three-point field goal percentage on the year, shooting at a 39.2-percent clip
Gaulden ranked third with 142 assists and fifth with 63 three-pointers made

Freshmen Made Marks Last Year

Maddie Bittle shot 82.4-percent from the free throw line, making her the second-best freshman free throw shooter in school history (tying Morgan Brady) a year ago
Desiree Lewis played in 31 games, ranking third, had 163 rebounds, ranking fourth, and shot a .450 field goal percentage, ranking fifth, among the programs' freshmen

Tulsa Picked 10th in The American Preseason Coaches' Poll

In the American Athletic Conference coaches' poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 10th by the league's coaches
A year ago, TU ended the year ranked seventh in the league standings, a five-place jump from the predicted 12th-place finish
The 2019-20 predicted order of finish is UConn, USF, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Temple, Tulane, Memphis, Wichita State, Tulsa, ECU and SMU

Tulsa in The American Championship

Tulsa has a 4-5 mark in The American Championship
TU earned wins in the first round in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
The Golden Hurricane lost matches in the quarterfinals in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

The 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 2020 championship will mark the seventh consecutive year the tournament has been played at the Uncasville, Conn. arena

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.