Tulsa Women’s Hoops Fall to SMU, 61-54

Saturday, January 28

Reynolds Center

1:00 pm

Tulsa

15-6,5-3AAC

SMU

14-6,5-3AAC

SMU

Tulsa

Tulsa Women’s Hoops Fall to SMU, 61-54

1/28/2023 3:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford both scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Tulsa women's basketball team dropped a 61-54 decision to SMU on Saturday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane fell to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Mustangs moved to 14-6 overall and 5-3 in the league.

Poindexter scored 20 points, her 12^th 20+ scoring game of her career, while Crawford added 13. Poindexter also had a team-best eight rebounds, while Maddie Bittle had four assists, Maya Mayberry had two steals and Hadley Periman recorded three blocks.

"I thought we had a great start in the first quarter and first half, but we turned the ball over and didn't take care of the ball like we should have," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "We fought hard, but we didn't shoot the ball great in the second half. SMU is a good team and we saw a little bit of on-ball pressure, but we struggled to find our rhythm. We are going to watch film and continue to grow this young team and continue to move forward."

Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, February 1 against Cincinnati beginning at 6:30 pm at the Reynolds Center.

How it Happened
Tulsa started the game with a 13-0 run with 6:16 on the clock, forcing the Mustangs to call a timeout. TU climbed to a 14-point advantage, 16-2, at the 4:58 mark but SMU chipped away at their deficit to pull within eight (18-10) with 3:17 to play in the frame. Neither team scored a field goal in the remainder of the first period, but Chantae Embrey hit two free throws with three seconds remaining for an 18-12 first quarter score.

Tulsa turned the ball over 10 times in the first frame but shot 58.3 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc. The Mustangs shot just 22.2 percent from the field and missed all four three-point attempts in the first 10 minutes.

A three-pointer by Temira Poindexter to start the second quarter put Tulsa up by nine, but that was as big of a lead as TU would have in the quarter as SMU inched back and pulled to within one, 30-29, with 1:12 to play in the frame. Delanie Crawford scored a layup with just three seconds to play to give Tulsa a 32-29 advantage at halftime.

Tulsa never had more than a two-basket lead in the third quarter and SMU battled back to tie the game at 40-all with 2:35 to play in the frame. The Mustangs took their first lead of the game on a jumper by Jasmine Smith at the 1:19 mark, but then Katelyn Levings hit a three-pointer (1:05) to put TU up by one (43-42). A jumper by Savannah Wilkinson with 35 seconds to play in the quarter gave SMU a 44-43 edge with 10 minutes to play.

SMU inched ahead to a five-point lead, 52-47, with 5:19 on the clock in the final quarter and owned a four-point advantage, 54-50, with 4:43 to play. Neither team could score a basket in the next 3:19 off clock before SMU's Ella Brow hit a layup and was fouled, scoring the and-one, for a 57-50 lead.

Levings hit a big three to pull TU to within four, but a free throw made by Wilkinson made it 58-53 with 31 seconds to play. Bittle went 1-of-2 from the line with 22 seconds remaining, but Embry was 2-of-2 with 15 seconds on the clock to give SMU a six-point advantage. Wilkinson added another free throw with 9.5 seconds remaining for the final 61-54 score.

Game Notes

This was the 50^th meeting between Tulsa and SMU and the series now stands 31-19 in favor of SMU.
Tulsa jumped out to a 16-2 lead but led by only six at the end of one period, 18-12.
Tulsa lost only its second game of the year when leading at halftime, dropping to 14-2.
The Hurricane suffered its second home loss of the season, both consecutively, and falling to 9-2 on the year at the Reynolds Center.
The loss was Tulsa's third straight loss, marking the first time the Hurricane has suffered three straight losses since a 3-game stretch last year (Temple, Tulane, SMU)
Tulsa trailed after three quarters today 44-43, marking the seventh time Tulsa trailed after three quarters this season … Tulsa is now 1-6 when trailing after the third period.
Sophomore Temira Poindexter had her 20^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 38^th of her career.
It was Poindexter's eighth 20+ scoring game of the season and 13^th of her career.
Poindexter's five three-pointers is a new career-high, breaking the previous record of 4 set five previous times.
It marked Poindexter's 16^th straight double-digit scoring game.
Poindexter had 14 first-half points marking the seventh time this year that she scored in double-digits in the first half, and the third straight game.
Delanie Crawford had her 13^th double-digit scoring game of the season and 21^st of her career.