Tulsa Takes Out ECU Pirates 71-59

Tuesday, January 11

Reynolds Center

6:30 pm

Tulsa

12-2,2-1AAC

East Carolina

7-8,0-2AAC

East Carolina

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Takes Out ECU Pirates 71-59

1/11/2022 9:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Hurricane improves to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the AAC

GAME BOX SCORE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, OKLA. –– Wyvette Mayberry tied her career-high with 24 points as Tulsa built a 24-point halftime lead and held on for a 71-59 victory over the East Carolina Pirates Tuesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The Hurricane improved to 12-2 on the season and 2-1 in American Athletic Conference play, while ECU fell to 7-8 and 0-2 in league action.

Freshman Temira Poindexter had her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Rebecca Lescay also hit double digits with 12 points in just 13 minutes, all in the first half, and Maddie Bittle had eight points and a career-best 12 rebounds on the night. Taniyah Thompson has 16 points to lead the Pirates.

ECU came into the game with a +3.7-rebounding advantage over its opponents, but the Hurricane outrebounded the Pirates by seven as Tulsa's 47 rebounds was a season-high. The Hurricane suffered a season-high 19 turnovers in its ninth double-figure win of the season.

"We were so aggressive and we were so good in transition finding each other in the first half. You look at what we were able to do getting to the rim during that time, it was all paint scores, paint touches," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp. "You go to the second half and there were a few more perimeter shots that were mixed in that just didn't fall. Those shots normally fall for us and they just didn't fall. Later in the game, when we went back to being more aggressive and getting the ball into the paint, it worked well for us again."

Tulsa was without leading scorer Maya Mayberry for the second straight game, while Lescay did not return to the Tulsa lineup in the second half after an injury.

"I think we definitely miss having our complete roster. There's more to it than just the statistics and the points - there's an energy and a camaraderie and a togetherness. That has just kind of been in flux a little bit over the past couple of weeks, so it'll be good when we can get our team just all healed up and ready," added Nelp.

Leading from start to finish, the Hurricane came out of the gates firing on all cylinders to score 47 first-half points. Tulsa converted 55-pecent of its field goals and knocked down 44-percent from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa cooled off in the second half, connecting on only 26-percent from the field, 21-percent from three-point range and scoring just 24 points in the half. Mayberry scored 13 of Tulsa's second-half points.

Trailing by 24 points at halftime, the Pirates shaved 10 points off of Tulsa's lead at the end of the second half as ECU outscored the Hurricane 22-12 in the period, cutting Tulsa's lead to 14 points at 59-45 after three quarters.

In the period, ECU's Tylar Bennett had nine points and four rebounds, while Thompson added seven points. The Pirates shot 41-percent from the field, while Tulsa cooled off to 31-percent in the third period.

ECU trimmed Tulsa's margin to 11 points on a Raven Johnson put-back that made the score 64-53 with 3:58 remaining in the contest. Tulsa was outscored in the final stanza, 14-12, but held on for the 12-point win.

Tulsa jumped out to a 10-2 lead on four layups and two free throws. The Hurricane increased its lead to 23-8 before ending the first quarter with a 26-12 advantage.

The Hurricane made 8-of-15 field goals in the first period, including five layups and three treys from the field while connecting on 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Tulsa also had a 13-to-4 edge in rebounding.

Mayberry and Crawford had nine of seven points, respectively, to lead the Hurricane in the first quarter.

Tulsa came out in the second period scoring the first 15 points to take its largest first-half lead at 41-12 with 6:38 remaining in the quarter. The Pirates didn't score its first points of the second period until Morgan Moseley hit a jumper with 6:22 on the clock. ECU closed out the second quarter outscoring the Hurricane 10-6 in the final five minutes.

The Hurricane took a 24-point lead, 47-23, into intermission as Tulsa outscored the Pirates 26-12 in the first 10 minutes and 21-11 in the second.

It marked the third time this season that Tulsa had back-to-back 20+ scoring quarters in the first half with the other coming against Missouri S&T and South Alabama.

Mayberry and Lescay each had double-digit points in the first half. Mayberry had 12 and Lescay 11 as Poindexter added nine points and highs of six rebounds and two blocks.

Taniyah Thompson led ECU in the first half with nine points as the Pirates shot just 27-percent from the field and 11-percent from behind the arc.

Tulsa ended the first 20 minute by shooting 55-percent from the field, 44-percent from three-point range and 78-percent from the free throw line. The Hurricane had a 18-6 edge in points in the paint and 8-0 in points off turnovers. Tulsa also held a 26-to-15 rebounding edge.

Tulsa will be back in action next Wednesday against the nation's 24^th-ranked South Florida Bulls in Tampa, Florida. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+. Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center on Saturday, Jan. 22, for a 1 p.m. tipoff against SMU.