Tulsa Cruises to 95-51 Win over Central Arkansas

Sunday, December 11

Reynolds Center

1:00 pm

Tulsa

8-2,0-0AAC

Central Arkansas

4-4,0-0ASUN

Central Ark.

Tulsa

Tulsa Cruises to 95-51 Win over Central Arkansas

12/11/2022 3:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

GAME STATS I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa cruised to a 95-51 win over the Central Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center as Temira Poindexter led four double-figure scorers with a game-high 21 points.

Tulsa won its fifth straight game and moved to 8-2 on the season, while UCA fell to 4-4.

Poindexter added five rebounds and five assists to go along with her 21 points, while fellow sophomore Delanie Crawford chipped in with 16 points followed by seniors Maya Mayberry with 14 and Maddie Bittle with 12. The foursome combined to shoot 71-percent from the field (22-of-31) and 70.5-percent from behind the arc (12-of-17) for the game. Bittle also dished out a career-high eight assists.

Tulsa led from start to finish, scoring its first points just 0:23 into the game on a three-pointer by Poindexter, and led by as many as 47 points before closing out the game with its sixth largest victory in school history with the 44-point win.

The Hurricane shot season-highs of 59-percent from the field on 26-of-61 and 57.7-percent from three-point range, knocking down 15-of-26. Tulsa held the Sugar Bears to 33-percent from the field and just 23-percent from beyond the arc.

"I love those offensive numbers," said Tulsa head coach Angle Nelp. "One of the things I felt we did a great job of today was we kept the game up-tempo. We also had 25 assists today and that shows how great our team is working together and how much we are sharing the ball.

"Today we had multiple people step up in big ways to be able to convert and score the points we did. I thought we did a good job on the defensive end of the floor. We gave up a few more offensive rebounds than we had wanted to do, but we will keep growing and improving in that area."

Tulsa's 95 points was a season-high, breaking the previous high of 92 points against both ORU and South Carolina State, and was also the fifth most points scored in Tulsa history, and the most since pouring in 98 points against Houston on March 3, 2018.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tulsa jumped out to an 8-0 lead and took its first double-digit lead at the 6:49 mark on two Maddie Bittle free throws that made the score 13-2. Tulsa's largest lead of the first period was 19 when Poindexter's traditional three-point play put the Hurricane ahead 26-7 with 2:16 remaining in the period.

The Hurricane shot 75-percent in that first quarter, converting 9-of-12 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc for 71-percent as Crawford hit all three of her trey attempts for a team-high nine points in the quarter. Tulsa led at the first break by a score of 26-10.

Tulsa ended the first half with a 48-27 lead on a solid shooting half of basketball, connecting on 55-percent of its field goal and shooting 53-percent from three-point range.

Tulsa outscored Central Arkansas 25-10 in the third quarter to take 73-37 lead into the final period. The Hurricane began the second half like it opened the game on an 8-0 run and had its largest lead of the quarter of 38 points before finishing the period with a 36-point advantage.

The Hurricane continued its hot-shooting during the third stanza, knocking down 67-percent of its field goals and 75-percent from three-point range. Tulsa took that shooting through the fourth quarter as the Hurricane built its lead up to as many as 47 points in the final quarter.

GAME NOTES
•    This was the 4^th meeting between Tulsa and UCA as the Hurricane took a 3-1 series lead over the Sugar Bears.
•     Tulsa won its fifth straight game and moved to 6-0 at home this season.
•    Tulsa has scored over 70 points in seven games this year and has a 6-1 record in those games, and has scored 90+ points in three games this season.
•    Tulsa's 95 points was a season-high, breaking the previous high of 92 points against both ORU and South Carolina State.
•    The 95 points tied for the 5^th most points scored in Tulsa history, and the most since scoring 98 points against Houston on March 3, 2018.
•    The 44-point margin of victory is the 6^th largest margin of victory in school history, and the most since a 49-point win over Alcorn State in the season opener.
•    The Hurricane scored 90+ points for the third time this season and the 5^th time in the last two seasons.
•    Tulsa's field goal percentage of .590 is a Donald W. Reynolds Center record … the previous high was .588 vs. Houston.
•    Tulsa had its third-highest scoring first half this season with 48 points … the previous two highest were 55 vs. South Carolina State and 49 vs. Oral Roberts.
•    Tulsa shot season-highs for field goals (.590), three-pointers (.577) and assists (25).
•    Delanie Crawford had her 5^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 16^th of her career.
•    Crawford scored double-digit points in the first half for the second straight game … she ended the first half with 13 points and had 10 in the first half in Thursday's game against Prairie View A&M.
•    Maddie Bittle had her 5^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 32^nd of her career.
•    Bittle's eight assists is a new career high … her six first-half assists tied her previous career-high which she tied earlier this season against Oral Roberts.
•    Bittle was the team-leader in assists for the 13^th time in her career.
•    Freshman Hadley Periman set a new career-high for rebounds with nine … her six rebounds in the first half tied her previous highs.
•    Temira Poindexter had her ninth double-figure scoring game of the season and the 27^th in her two-year career.
•     Poindexter had her third 20+ point scoring game this season and the 7^th of her career with 21 points.
•    Crawford tied her season-high of 4 three-pointers made … her previous game with 4 three-pointers came at Duquesne.
•    Maya Mayberry had her 4^th game this year with at least four three-pointers made.
•    10 of the 11 Tulsa players who played scored in the game.

Tulsa will be on the road Friday night in Lawrence, Kansas, to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. Tulsa will return to the Reynolds Center on Monday, Dec. 19, for a 6:30 p.m. game against Northwestern State.