Tulsa Women Take Down Florida Gators 72-64

Sunday, December 10

Reynolds Center

1:00 PM

Tulsa

7-3,0-0AAC

Florida

6-3,0-0SEC

Florida

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Women Take Down Florida Gators 72-64

12/10/2023 4:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GAME STATS I PRESS CONFERENCE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter combined for 43 points to lead Tulsa to a 72-64 comeback victory over the SEC's Florida Gators Sunday afternoon in front of 2,205 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 7-3 overall, while Florida fell to 6-3 on the year. The win over the Gators was the first in seven games for an American Athletic Conference over an SEC team this season.

Crawford ended the day with a game-high 22 points while Poindexter added 21 for the Golden Hurricane. Crawford made five of her seven field goals from behind the arc, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Poindexter tallied 16 of her points in the second half and made 6-of-8 free throws, including 5-of-6 in the final quarter.

Ahrray Young also scored in double digits with a season-high 13 points. The Gators were led by Laila Reynolds with 14 points f

Rebounding was a focus for the Hurricane going into the contest against the much taller Gator team. Hadley Periman grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds with six of those coming on the offensive end.

Trailing 60-54 with 6:42 remaining in the contest, Tulsa outscored the Gators 16-4 the rest of the way and ended the final quarter with a 20-8 scoring advantage. Young began the final stretch with a free throw and a driving layup before Poindexter knotted the score at 60 on a three-pointer with 5:15 on the clock.

The Gators jumped back on top 62-60 with two free throws before Poindexter tied it again with two freebies of her own. Young's layup put Tulsa ahead for good, 64-62, at the 2:56 mark and two more Poindexter free throws gave the Hurricane a 64-62 lead. Florida made it a two-point game again, 66-64, with 2:26 remaining in the contest, but Tulsa scored the final six points for the eight-point victory.

Florida took a 46-44 lead at the 3:38 mark of the third quarter and held that lead until the 5:15mark of the final stanza when Poindexter's trey tied the score at 60-60, leading the way for Tulsa's final heroics down the stretch.

It marked the second consecutive game that Tulsa came from behind in the final quarter to gain a win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 2:01 as the Gators first score didn't come until 0:40 later … the Hurricane expanded its lead to 9-5 before Florida went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-9 lead at the 4:03 mark.

The two teams tied the game up three times at 11, 13 and 15 before the Gators ended the first period with a 17-15 lead on two free throws with 0:01 left on the clock.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Delanie's three-pointer put Tulsa back ahead 18-17 with nine seconds gone to start the second quarter.

Crawford hit another trey for a 21-17 Tulsa lead.

The Hurricane led by four, 31-27, with 1:46 left in the period on another Crawford three-pointer, before Florida closed out the first half on a 7-2 run.

Florida scored on a traditional three-point play with 0:06 remaining on the game clock to take a 34-33 lead into intermission.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Crawford opened the third quarter again with a three-pointer putting the Hurricane back ahead 36-34.

Tulsa held onto that lead until Florida tied the score at 42-42 at the 4:28 mark, and then took the lead again at 44-43 … the Gators retook the lead at 46-44 and held onto the lead for the remainder of the period ending the third quarter with a 56-52 lead.

Florida out-rebounded Tulsa in the third quarter 12-6, while shooting 56% from the field in those 10 minutes.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Florida scored the first basket of the final quarter to take a 58-52 lead at the 8:17 mark.

Florida had its second six-point lead of the quarter at 60-54 with 6:42 remaining, but Tulsa scored the next six points to tie the contest at 60-60 at the 5:15 mark.

Tulsa had a 12-2 scoring edge in the final 3:38 to pull out the come-from-behind victory.

It was quite the difference between the third and fourth periods for Florida's shooting efforts … Florida went from 56% in the third quarter to 15% in the final period, including 1-of-12 in their final 12 shots while totaling zero points in the final 2:26.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa moved to 7-3 on the season and 4-0 at home.
• This was the second meeting between Tulsa and Florida, the first since Dec. 2, 1983 … the series now stands at 1-1.
• Tulsa is now 4-0 on the year when Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford each score 20 or more points.
• Tulsa has now defeated Clemson of the ACC and Florida of the SEC this year to give the Hurricane two wins over 'power 5' teams in the same season since December 2005 with wins over Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Florida State.
• Tulsa's last win over an SEC team was against Alabama (80-73) on December 1, 2018, in the Arizona State Classic.
• Delanie Crawford had her eighth double-figure scoring game of the season, hitting double digits in the first half … it was her 34th career double-figure scoring game.
• Crawford reached 20+ points for the fifth time this season and the sixth time in her career.
• Crawford scored 16 of those points in the first half, marking the third time this season that she scored in double-digits in the first half … the other games were 16 vs. Lindenwood in the season opener at 14 at ORU.
• Hadley Periman ended the game with a career-high 14 rebounds, as eight of those came in the first half.
• It was Periman's fourth double-figure rebounding game of the season and her career.
• With 21 points, Temira Poindexter has now reached double-digits in all 10 games this year and for the 55^th time in 68 career games.
• Poindexter had her seventh game of 20+ points this season and it was the 22^nd time in her career
• In just her seventh game back after recovering from a 2023 knee injury, Ahrray Young had her third double-figure scoring game of the campaign with a season-high 13 points.

Tulsa hosts Texas Southern on Friday with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. All TU women's basketball games can be heard on 93.5 FM The Jet Radio. All home and away American Athletic Conference games can be viewed on ESPN+.