Tulsa Captures 71-64 Win Over Houston in Final Regular Season Contest

Monday, March 2

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

9-20,4-12AAC

Houston

12-18,5-11AAC

Houston

Tulsa

Tulsa Captures 71-64 Win Over Houston in Final Regular Season Contest

3/2/2020 9:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Box Score in PDF l Season Stats in PDF

Tulsa had four players tie or set personal career-bests as the Golden Hurricane captured a 71-64 win over Houston in the final regular season game of the season on Monday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane moved to 9-20 on the season and 4-12 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Cougars fell to 12-18 overall and 5-11 in the league.

Destiny Johnson had a career-high 23 points, including her first career three-point basket, and tied her career-bests of four rebounds and three steals, Elin Hrafnkelsdottir had a career-high nine points and tied her personal-best of four rebounds, Rebecca Lescay totaled a team-best and career-high seven assists, and Kendrian Elliott tied her career-best of four steals. Elliott added 11 points, while KK Rodriguez added seven, and Addison Richards, Lescay and Morgan Brady all had six.

"DJ (Destiny Johnson) is such an athlete," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "If she gets a steal at one end she gets a bucket at the other. DJ is faster with the ball in her hands than most people are without the ball and the fact that she shot a great percentage (50-percent), you couldn't ask for more from a freshman."

TU scored 33 points in the final frame, nearly the total from the first three combined (38), which was seven more than Houston, which was the difference in the game.

"A lot of our points in the fourth quarter were from getting steals and then layups on the other end," Mossman said. "Since we put KK and DJ in the lineup they make things happen defensively and it's hard for people to keep up with them so we've been hanging our hat on that offensively."

Tulsa had a 44-30 advantage in points in the paint, a 41-30 lead in points off the bench and a 14-0 advantage in fast break points.

Tulsa had an 18-16 lead in assists and a 13-9 advantage in steals, while Houston had a 44-40 edge in rebounds and a 11-5 advantage in blocks.

Neither team scored for the first 3:59 off the clock, combining for 0-of-12 from the field, before Addison Richards scored in the paint at the 6:01 mark to end the scoring drought. Johnson recorded two layups to make it a 6-0 game before Bria Patterson hit a three pointer for the Cougars at the 3:54 mark as UH missed their first nine attempts. Tulsa climbed to a 14-7 lead with 1:33 on the clock and owned a 15-13 advantage at the end of the frame.

The two teams paced each other in the second quarter with both teams scoring 12 points, giving Tulsa a 27-25 lead at halftime. TU shot 40-percent in the first quarter, but then hit just 33-percent of their attempts in the second, while UH shot a 33-percent clip in both frames.

Houston took their first lead of the contest on a three-pointer by Dymond Gladney at the 8:14 mark of the third quarter, 30-29, but a layup by Elliott put TU back on top with 7:21 to play in the frame. The Hurricane maintained the lead until Maya Jones evened the score at 38-38 at the 1:51 mark of the quarter, which was the score at the end of the frame.

Tulsa outscored the Cougars 18-7 to climb to an 11-point lead, 56-45, at the 4:43 mark of the fourth quarter, but then Houston went on a 6-1 run to pull to within six, 57-51, with 3:52 on the clock. UH made it a four-point game (68-64) on a free throw made by Dorian Branch with 37.4-seconds to play, but a free throw made by Morgan Brady and a pair of free throws made by Lescay put TU up 71-64 for the final score.

Maya Jones had a team-high 19 points, while Gladney added 10 points. Julia Blackshell-Fair pulled down a team-best nine rebounds, had six assists and four steals in the contest.

Tulsa shot a solid 44-percent in the game, but was just 18-percent from behind the arc, while hitting 17-of-22 free throws, while Houston shot 37-percent from the field, 26-percent from three-point range and was 3-of-8 from the line.

Prior to the game TU honored its three seniors – Kendrian Elliott, Alexis Gaulden and Addison Richards.

Tulsa will return to action on Friday, March 6 in the First Round of The American Championship at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The game will be played at 11:00 am Central against Tulane.