Tulsa Claims Mayor’s Cup with 69-55 Win at ORU

Sunday, November 21

Tulsa, Okla. (at ORU)

2:00 pm

Tulsa

4-0,0-0AAC

Oral Roberts

0-4,0-0Summit League

Tulsa

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Claims Mayor’s Cup with 69-55 Win at ORU

11/21/2021 5:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Hurricane starts 4-0 for only the second time in school history

GAME STATS I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa used a big first quarter for an early double-digit lead en route to a 69-55 victory over the ORU Golden Eagles Sunday afternoon in the Mayor's Cup Game at ORU's Mabee Center.

The Hurricane moved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season, when Tulsa started 7-0, and it also marks just the second time in school history Tulsa has started with four wins on the season. The Mayor's Cup win over its' cross-town rival is the third straight for the Hurricane.

Maya Mayberry led the Hurricane with 17 points, while sophomore Jessika Evans and freshman Delanie Crawford each scored career-highs with 16 and 13 points, respectively. Wyvette Mayberry had a game-high eight rebounds and Crawford led the Hurricane with five assists and added six boards.

"It was our defense early on that set the tone for us. We held them to two single-point quarters in the first half," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp.

Tulsa finished the game shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 38.5 from three-point range, while ORU ended at 36.4 percent after a paltry first half from the field. The Hurricane had a season-low seven turnovers, while turning over ORU 14 times.

Leading wire-to-wire, Tulsa jumped out to a 16-1 lead with 3:39 remaining in the first period. Evans put Tulsa out to a 5-0 start with a three-pointer and layup, while Crawford made it 8-0 on a trey. The Hurricane knocked down 4-of 5 treys and 6-of-12 of its first shots in the contest.

Tulsa led 25-6 at the end of one period while shooting 52.6 percent from the field (10-of-19) and holding ORU to just 14-percent on 2-of-14. The Hurricane converted 5-of-8 first-quarter three-pointers for its 19-point advantage. Evans led all scorers in the first 10 minutes with eight points.

ORU scored its first point of the game at the 5:25 mark on a free throw, but Maya Mayberry quickly made the score 11-1 on her first three-pointer. Evans knocked down her second three of the first quarter putting the Hurricane ahead 14-1 and Wyvette Mayberry's driving layup made it 16-1. ORU didn't score its first field goal until the 3:09 mark of the first period on a Delaney Nix layup.

"We were able to get out in the first quarter and get in transition, run and get open looks and which opened the gates for us to do more defensively. It's always easier to play defense when you're making shots then when you're on your way running back. I thought our players did a really good job playing both ends of the floor for that time," added Nelp.

After ORU opened the second quarter with two points, Tulsa went on a 7-0 run to take a 32-7 lead. The Golden Eagles, though, went on an 8-2 run to end the second quarter. Tulsa's Wyvette Mayberry's layup with 0:04 on the clock stopped a 3:59 second quarter scoring drought for the Hurricane to close out the half.

The two teams were even in the second period scoring just nine points apiece as Tulsa went into intermission with a 34-15 lead.

Tulsa had five second quarter turnovers after just one in the first period. The Hurricane also cooled off in the second period, connecting on just 3-of-13 field goals and 1-of-5 from three-point range.

At halftime, Evans had a game-high 11 points on 4-of-7 overall and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Wyvette Mayberry had highs of five rebounds and three assists. Tulsa shot 40.6 from the field and 46.2 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes, while ORU was held to 18.5 from the floor and was 0-of-10 from three-point range. Tulsa forced 10 first-half ORU turnovers.

The Golden Eagles were a different team in the second half, coming out of the gates on an 8-0 run and cutting Tulsa's lead to 34-23 in the first 2:03, thanks mainly on two treys by Ariel Walker, the first three's of the game for ORU. Rebecca Lescay's jumper stopped the ORU run with Tulsa's first basket of the period at the 7:36 mark.

"We knew that the fight was not done yet when we went into the locker room at halftime," said Nelp. "We talked about resetting, it's 0-0 and we're going to have to go out and fight just as hard in the second half as we did the first."

"This rivalry is real. You can tell there's a little bit extra," added Nelp.

Walker knocked own two more three-pointers as the Golden Eagles trimmed Tulsa's lead to just six points, 36-30, at the 5:36 mark and again at 39-33. Tulsa finished out the third quarter on a 10-3 run to take a 49-36 lead into the final quarter of play.

The six points were as close as ORU would get as Tulsa maintained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the final quarter. The Hurricane had its largest fourth-period lead of 16 points at 69-53 when Evans sank a jumper with 0:55 left on the game clock.

After getting outscored by the Hurricane 34-15 in the first half, the Golden Eagles came back in the second half and held a 40-35 edge.

Tulsa will be in action next at the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament, Friday-Saturday, Nov. 26-27, in Boca Raton, Florida. Tulsa plays host Florida Atlantic on Friday at 11 a.m. (CT) and a day later faces Austin Peay, also at 11 a.m. (CT).

Tulsa's next home game is scheduled for Dec. 8 against Missouri S&T at 6:30 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

All Golden Hurricane women's basketball games can be heard on 93.5 FM The Jet Radio.