Tulsa Women Open AAC Play Saturday at Memphis

GAME 14:
TULSA (10-3, 0-0 AAC) vs. MEMPHIS (4-7, 0-0 AAC)
Saturday • Dec. 30, 2023 • 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Elma Roane Fieldhouse (2,565) • Memphis, Tenn.

RADIO: 93.5 The Jet
LIVE STATS: Click Here
TV: ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa I Memphis

THE COACHES:
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State '02), 3^rd year
Career Record: 44-27 (3 years)
School Record: same

Memphis: Alex Simmons (Tennessee '08), 1^st year
Career Record: 94-66 (6 years)
School Record: 4-7 (1 year)

Tulsa's Probable Starters
0     G     Katia Gallegos, 5-7, Sr-1L, El Paso, Texas, 6.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.8 apg
2     F      Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Jr-2L, Sapulpa, Okla., 20.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg
5     G     Delanie Crawford, 5-11, Jr-2L, Piedmont, Okla., 17.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg
21   F      Hadley Periman, 6-2, So-1L, Tuttle, Okla., 2.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg
35   G     Ahrray Young, 5-11, So-1L, Elk Grove, Calif., 8.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg

Memphis' Probable Starters
1     G     Ki-Ari Cain, 5-6, 5^th Year, Sumter, S.C., 5.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.5 apg
2     G     Madison Griggs, 5-9, 5^th Year, Memphis, Tenn., 17.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg
7     F      Hannah Riddick, 6-1, Jr., Calgary, Alberta, 4.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg
24   G     Kai Carter, 6-0, 5^th Year, Atlanta, Ga., 12.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg
30   F      Aladia Smith, 5-10, Sr., Johnson City, Tenn., 8.8ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.8 apg

Facing Memphis
•      This is the 27^th meeting between Tulsa and Memphis and the only meeting this season for the AAC schools.
•      The series is tied at 13-13, while Tulsa has a 7-5 record at home against the Tigers … Memphis is 8-4 at home … Tulsa is 2-0 in neutral site games.
•      Memphis won last year's meeting in Tulsa, 69-44, while Tulsa won the last game in Memphis in 2021-22 by a score of 72-69.

Finishing Non-Conference Play
•      Tulsa closed out the non-conference season with a 10-3 record and a five-game winning streak.
•      In the Angie Nelp era, Tulsa has posted a 30-7 non-conference record in regular season play.
•      Tulsa has won 10 non-league regular season games in each of the last three years under Nelp.

Starting American Athletic Conference Play
•     This is the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
•     The Hurricane has won its AAC opener in each of the last two seasons, including a 55-47 win over eventual AAC Champions East Carolina last year.
•     Tulsa and Memphis opened AAC play against each other in the 2021-22 season as Tulsa grabbed a 72-69 win in Memphis.

Two Going for 20 Points
•      Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter have combined for 14 20+ scoring performances this season.
•      Poindexter has scored 20+ points in eight games and Crawford six times … among those games, they each have one 30+ scoring game.
•      Tulsa is 4-0 when the two of them each score 20+ points in the same game, including against Lindenwood, New Orleans, Clemson and Florida.

Making It When You Have To
•       In Tulsa's trip to the Maui Classic, free throws late in both contests became critical to Tulsa wins over Texas Tech and SE Louisiana.
•       After leading by 17 points, Tulsa held off a furious Texas Tech rally by converting 10-of-12 free throws in the final 1:14 to claim a 66-58 victory.
•       A game later against SE Louisiana, Tulsa went to the line just six times, making four, but none were more important until the final 0:01 of the game when Delanie Crawford tied the game at 47 with her first make and her second gave Tulsa a 48-47 victory.

Rebounding Emphasis
•      In the last five games, Tulsa has averaged 43.8 rebounds, while in the first eight contests the Hurricane averaged 38.1 points.
•    Tulsa had a season-high 51 rebounds against Texas Southern … the Hurricane also had three more games with 45+ rebounds coming against Lindenwood (47), New Orleans (49) and Florida (45).
•    On the year, Tulsa averages 40.3 boards (524) and the opponent pulls down 40.2 rebounds per game (522).

Blocks
•      Over the past five games, Tulsa has shown their blocking ability as the Hurricane has averaged 6.4 blocks (32) in that stretch.
•      In the first eight games of the season, Tulsa averaged 3.4 blocked shots thus increasing its total by 3.0 over the last five games.
•      Overall, Tulsa averages 4.5 blocks (59) through 13 games this year.
•      Temira Poindexter leads the way with 20 blocks (1.5 bpg), followed by Hadley Periman with 14 (1.1 bpg) and Caranda Perea with 12 (0.9 bpg)

Comebacks
•      In eight of Tulsa's 10 wins this year, Tulsa has trailed at one point or another in those games.
•      In three wins – UCA, Florida and Southeastern Louisiana, the Hurricane trailed late in the 4^th quarter.
•      Tulsa trailed in all these games at one point – Lindenwood (2 pts, 3^rd QTR), Northwestern State (2 pts, 1^st QTR), UAPB (10 pts, 3^rd QTR), Clemson (12 pts, 2^nd QTR), UCA (8 pts, 3^rd QTR), Florida (6 pts, 4^th QTR), Texas Tech (2 pts, 1^st QTR) and Southeastern Louisiana (10 pts, 3^rd QTR).
•      Against UCA, Tulsa trailed by 2 points at the 4:47 mark before Madi Cartwright hit a 3-pointer at the 4:05 mark to give Tulsa the lead for good.
•      In the Florida game, Temira Poindexter's two free throws at the 3:38 mark cut a one-point deficit to a tie game at 62-62, before Ahrray Young's layup at the 2:56 mark gave Tulsa the lead for good.
•      Against SE Louisiana, Tulsa trailed by 10 at the 7:48 mark of the third quarter, by four with 6:34 remaining and by one point with 0:04 on the clock … Delanie Crawford's two free throws with 0:01 left gave Tulsa a 48-47 win.

Tulsa Gets ACC, SEC and Big 12 Wins
•      This season Tulsa has garnered wins over teams from the ACC (Clemson), SEC (Florida) and Big 12 (Texas Tech).
•      The Hurricane claimed a 74-64 win over Clemson at the Van Chancellor Classic in Katy Texas, in a home game took down Florida 72-64 and in the opening game at the Maui Classic defeated an 11-0 Texas Tech team 66-58.
•      It marks the first time since the 2005-06 season that Tulsa had at least three wins over a school from those conferences, when Tulsa defeated SEC's Arkansas (66-64), Big 12's Oklahoma State (75-68) and ACC's Florida State (80-71) in three consecutive games.
•      The win over Florida was the first against an SEC team since an 80-73 win over Alabama on Dec. 1, 2018.
•     The last ACC win for Tulsa came against NC State 71-61 in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
•     The last time Tulsa defeated a Big 12 school was Oklahoma State on Dec. 13, 2020.The Only One
•      As of Dec. 20, American Athletic Conference teams had faced SEC teams eight times this season.
•      Tulsa's 72-64 win over Florida is the only win against an SEC team by an AAC team this year.

Poindexter Adding to Career Point Total
•       Temira Poindexter became just the 12^th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
•       She reached the 1,000-point mark by scoring 15 points at TCU on Dec. 1, which was her 66^th career game played.
•       Poindexter now has 1,092 points for a 15.4 average in 71 career games.
•       She now ranks 10^th on the all-time scoring list, needing 21 more points to tie Carla Morrow (1,113 pts, 1998-02) for ninth place and 30 points to tie Megan Moody (1,122 pts, 2002-06) for eighth place.
•       Another Hurricane player, Katia Gallegos has also reached the 1,000-point mark in her career with 1,100 points, including 967 in three seasons at UTEP and 133 points at Tulsa.

Tulsa Women Open AAC Play Saturday at Memphis

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Players Mentioned

Delanie Crawford

Katia Gallegos

Caranda Perea

Hadley Periman

Temira Poindexter

Ahrray Young