Tulsa Women Fall to Tulane 69-60

GAME BOX SCORE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Rebecca Lescay's 16 points led four Tulsa players in double-figures but Tulane used a strong second half to pull out a 69-60 victory Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulane won its sixth straight game and improved to 17-7 on the season and 8-4 in the American Athletic Conference, while Tulsa dropped to 14-7 and 4-6 in league play.

Tulsa came out in the first quarter and scored 24 points on 56-percent shooting from the field but managed only 36 points over the final three quarters while shooting only 30-percent. Trailing by 11 points multiple times in the first half, the Green Wave mounted its comeback in the third quarter and went on to score 41 second-half points to outdistance Tulsa by 15 points in the final 20 minutes.

Lescay also finished with team-highs of six rebounds, four assists and three steals for Tulsa. Wyvette Mayberry added 14 points and five rebounds, while Maddie Bittle scored 13 and Maya Mayberry added 10 points for the Hurricane. The Green Wave also had four players with double-digit points as 6'3" Mia Heide led the way with 17 points, Krystal Freeman and Moon Ursin added 16 points apiece.

Tulane won the battle of the boards with a 46-to-37 advantage and also outscored the Hurricane in the paint 46-34. Tulsa was only 34-of-23 from behind the arc, but the Green Wave made only 1-of-16 three-pointers. Tulane was 18-of-20 from the free throw line while Tulsa only made it to the line five times, making four.

"I think our team did some things really, really well today, but there was a stretch in the fourth quarter that we didn't win the war on the boards like we needed to do. I felt like early in the game we were able to get rebounding from all five positions, including our guards fighting for those boards, but in the second half we didn't do as well as we wanted to do," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp.

After trailing by six at halftime, Tulane tied the score at 40 and took its first lead of the game at 42-40 with 3:28 on the third quarter clock. The Hurricane took a one-point lead twice in the last 2:10 of the period but was behind by one point heading into the fourth quarter.

The Green Wave outscored Tulsa in the third, 20-13, for the 48-47 lead after three periods. The Hurricane went scoreless for the first five minutes of the final quarter, not scoring until Temira Poindexter's first points at the 4:56 mark to cut Tulsa's deficit to 57-49

Tulane extended its lead to 10 points at 59-49 and again at 61-51. Jessika Evans' trey with 2:09 on the game clock closed the gap to five points but that's as close as the Hurricane would make the score the rest of the way.

Tulsa jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a Maya Mayberry three-pointer and a Lescay basket before Tulane scored the next five points to start the game. Tulsa went on another 5-0 run for a 10-5 lead and went on to build an 11-point first quarter lead on a Bittle three-pointer with 0:27 left on the clock.

The first period ended with a score of 24-15 as the Hurricane shot 56-percent on 9-of-16 field goals. Bittle led the way with 11 points in the quarter.

Temple shaved five points off their first quarter deficit in the second period as the Hurricane went into halftime leading 34-28.

Tulsa led by 11 twice in the second period. After leading 32-21 following a Wyvette Mayberry fast-break layup at the 4:04 mark, the Hurricane was held to just two points the rest of the half as the Green Wave closed out the second quarter on a 7-2 run.

Tulsa ended the half shooting 41-percent from the field and Tulane 39-percent while both teams were dismal from three-point range with Tulsa at 16-percent and Tulane at 12-percent. Bittle and Lescay led the way for Tulsa with 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the first half while Tulane's Heide led all scorers with 13 points.

Tulsa will be back at the Reynolds Center at 1 p.m. Saturday to host the SMU Mustangs.

Tulsa Women Fall to Tulane 69-60

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bittle

Jessika Evans

Rebecca Lescay

Maya Mayberry

Wyvette Mayberry

Temira Poindexter

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