Tulsa Outlasts Prairie View A&M for 66-61 Win

Thursday, December 8

Reynolds Center

11:00 am

Tulsa

7-2,0-0AAC

Prairie View A&M University

3-5,0-0SWAC

Prairie View

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Outlasts Prairie View A&M for 66-61 Win

12/8/2022 1:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score in PDF
Season Stats in PDF

Delanie Crawford scored a career-high 19 points as Tulsa held on for a 66-61 victory over Prairie View A&M Thursday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,806 fans on Education Day at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

"I am super proud of the fight with our team today," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "We knew that this would be a battle going into this game. We knew that with the way they played and the style that they played we would need to be our best to win. I am really proud of our players; they really fought hard in the fourth quarter and were able to get some critical defensive stops. There is going to be a lot of nuggets we can take out of this game where we can continue to learn, continue to grow and continue to move forward."

Crawford connected on 8-of-14 field goals for her 19 points and added seven rebounds and a team-high five assists. Temira Poindexter and Ahrray Young added 12 points apiece, while Poindexter had a team-high eight rebounds and Young grabbed seven boards. PVAMU's Diana Rosenthal led the Panthers with 19 points.

"Delanie was a huge key for our team today, especially against a team that really pressured us in the back court. She did a great job breaking their press and looking for her shot. Early in the game the thing that was so huge was when she cut to the rim and we would find her with our passes for those layups. Delanie was a really a good leader for our team today."

Tulsa improved to 7-2 on the year, while PVAMU fell to 3-5.

Tulsa used a strong third quarter to build a 16-point advantage and held off a fourth quarter Panther rally for its fourth consecutive victory. Tulsa took a 56-40 lead heading into the final quarter by outscoring PVAMU in the third period by 10 points, 22-12.

The Panthers turned the tables on the Hurricane in the final stanza, outscoring the home team 21-10. After Tulsa extended its lead to 18 points, 58-40, on a Maddie Bittle layup at the 8:18 mark, PVAMU outscored Tulsa 21-8 in the remaining eight minutes.
The Panthers made 10-of-12 free throws in the final 4:49 to help their comeback attempt.

PVAMU made just 5-of-19 field goals in the period but was 9-of-12 from the charity stripe. Tulsa made just 3-of-14 field goals, was 0-of-5 from behind the arc and made 4-of-6 free throws in the quarter.

For the game, Tulsa held Prairie View to a .271 field goal percentage and just 15 percent from three-point range. Tulsa shot only 39 percent from the field, 28 percent from behind the arc and 44 percent from the free throw line.

"I liked the shots we were taking," Nelp said. "I felt maybe we were rushed just a little bit with the helter-skelter of their defense, but one thing I love about this team is the way they make that extra pass to get that wide open person a shot. We will shoot better than what we shot today, but I liked our aggressiveness to get to the rim and to get to the free throw line."

HOW IT HAPPENED
It took Tulsa 2:13 to get on the scoreboard as Crawford's layup tied the score at 2-2. The Hurricane took a 10-4 lead before the Panthers went on a 9-1 run to take a 13-10 lead at the 2:30 mark.

Tulsa closed out the first quarter with treys from Young and Poindexter for a 17-15 lead after one period.

The Hurricane jumped out on a 6-2 run to start the second quarter but both teams went scoreless until PVAMU's Diana Rosenthal ended a 2:58 scoring drought for the visitors. Crawford stopped Tulsa's 3:02 drought with a layup at the 4:32 mark to make the score 25-19.

Maya Mayberry scored five straight points on a 3-pointer and layup to give Tulsa a double-digit lead of 11 points at 30-19 with 3:12 remaining in the first half. The Panthers chipped away at the Tulsa lead and got its deficit back to four points before Tulsa's Chloe Williams hit a jumper with 0:05 on the clock for a 34-28 halftime lead.

Crawford led Tulsa in the first half with 10 points, followed by Young with seven points. PVAMU's Rosenthal came off the bench to lead all first-half scorers with 11 points.

Tulsa shot 40.5 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, while holding PVAMU to 31.3 percent. The Panthers had a 25-23 edge in rebounding, but Tulsa outscored PVAMU in the paint 20-14.

The Hurricane put some distance between them and the Panthers in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 22-12 in the period for a 56-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter. However, PVAMU cut an 18-point fourth period deficit to as low as four points as the Panthers outscored the Hurricane 21-10 in the final quarter.

GAME NOTES

Today's game was Education Day where local elementary schools were guests of TU.
This was the first meeting between Tulsa and Prairie View A&M.
Tulsa moved to 5-0 at home with the victory.
The 66 points for Tulsa was the lowest point total at home this year in five games.
Tulsa's 17 first quarter points was the lowest first-quarter output at home for the Hurricane this season … the previous low for a home game was 19 points in Tulsa's last outing vs. Lindenwood.
Delanie Crawford had her 4th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 15th of her career.
Crawford set a new career-high with 19 points, breaking her previous high of 18 points she scored two games earlier at Duquesne on Dec. 1.
Ahrray Young had her sixth double-digit scoring game of her true freshman campaign.
Temira Poindexter had her eighth double-figure scoring game of the season and the 26th in her career.