Four Tulsa Women Score in Double Digits in 71-62 Win Over Memphis

Saturday, December 30

Memphis, Tenn.

2:00 PM

Tulsa

11-3,1-0AAC

Memphis

4-8,0-1AAC

Tulsa

Memphis

Photo by: © Will Bramlett / Work in the Morning

Four Tulsa Women Score in Double Digits in 71-62 Win Over Memphis

12/30/2023 6:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Four on the Tulsa women's basketball team reached double figures in points to fuel the Golden Hurricane's 71-62 victory over the Memphis Tigers Saturday in the American Athletic Conference opener in Memphis. Delanie Crawford led the way with 18 points, followed by Temira Poindexter with 17 points, Mady Cartwright with 16 points and Ahrray Young with 10 points.

The Hurricane's sixth consecutive win moves them to 11-3 on the year and 1-0 in AAC play, while the Tigers drop to 4-8 and 0-1 in league action.

"Our players did great," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "I want to highlight the toughness of this team. This is an unbelievably difficult place to play in, and being able to just stay positive no matter what and stay together was huge. I'm so proud of the way they gave their effort as well as their togetherness today. I'm very happy we got four players in double figures. We always play team basketball, and it showed."

Though the Tigers won the rebounding battle 45-37, Crawford stepped up for the TU defense by pulling down 11 rebounds to secure her third double-double of the season and fourth in her career. Hadley Periman followed with eight boards and Young had four.

Memphis' Madison Griggs led the Tigers with 19 points, while Alasia Smith had 13 rebounds.

Tulsa's largest lead was 11 points with 3:37 in the contest. The Tigers attempted a comeback, but Crawford held them in check by going 8-for-8 at the free throw line.

Tulsa shot 46 percent from the field while holding the Tigers to 35 percent. Tulsa made 26-of-57 field goals, while Memphis put up a whopping 77 shots, making just 27 field goals. The Hurricane shot 37 percent (10-27) from beyond the three-point arc compared to 15 percent (2-13) deep shooting from Memphis.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Temira Poindexter scored Tulsa's first points with a second-chance jump shot from just outside the paint. Memphis responded with a field goal of its own en route to an 8-0 scoring run to jump ahead 8-2.

Tulsa fought back to take the lead at 19-17, before a late layup by the Tigers' Shelbee Brown tied it up to close out the first frame.

Ahrray Young and Temira Poindexter each scored six points, with Poindexter adding a block to close out the quarter.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Memphis opened the second quarter with a 9-point scoring run. Tulsa was held scoreless for nearly four minutes, until Mady Cartwright snapped the scoring drought with the first of her three treys in the quarter.

From there, Tulsa used a 10-4 run to knot up the game at 32-32 with 2:14 left in the half. Cartwright drained another three-pointer and the Tigers scored on the layup to close out the half 35-34 Tulsa.

Mady Cartwright shot 3-of-3 to lead the TU scorers with nine points, all from three-point land.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Tulsa's defense stepped up in the third quarter, holding Memphis to just 12 points. The Hurricane took advantage of a 10-0 run to lead by as many as nine points at 47-38 with 4:04 left on the clock.

Five different Tulsa players scored in the third quarter. The Hurricane led for 9:03 in the frame, finishing on top 52-46 heading into the fourth.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
For nearly half the final period, neither team could find their way to the basket. It was Amira Brown who jumpstarted the offense with a deep three-pointer at the 5:17 mark. Tulsa led by as many as 11 points at 3:37.

The Tigers attempted to come back in the game, but Delanie Crawford's perfect 8-for-8 shooting from the charity stripe helped keep them at bay for the rest of the game. Tulsa closed out the game 71-62 to secure the conference-opening victory.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa moves to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in the American Athletic Conference.
• The series now stands at 14-13 in favor of Tulsa.
• Tulsa starts AAC play 1-0 for the third straight season.
• Tulsa led at halftime for the 8th time this year, now 7-1 in those games.
• With seven blocked shots, Tulsa has now has 5+ blocks in eight games this year, including the last six contests.
• Freshman Mady Cartwright had her fourth double-figure scoring game of the season with a new career-high of 16 points.
• Cartwright had her 6th game with at least three treys with four 3-pointers today … it's the 4th time she has had four or more treys.
• Junior Temira Poindexter had her 14th double-figure scoring game this year and the 59th time in her career time in 72 career games.
• Poindexter now has 1,109 career points for 10th place on the school's all-time scoring chart, just four points shy of Carla Morrow (1,113 pts, 1998-02) for ninth place.
• Poindexter had her 5th straight game with two or more blocked shots, including at least four blocks three times in the last four games … in the last five games, she has totaled 17 blocks for a 3.4 average in those five games.
• Poindexter has 119 career blocks for 5th place on the school's career blocked shots, one shy of tying Megan Moody (120 blks, 2002-06).
• Junior Delanie Crawford had her 12th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 38th of her career.
• Crawford had a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and fourth of her career.
• Crawford's 11 rebounds were her third double-figure rebounding game of the season and fourth of her career.
• Ahrray Young had her sixth double-figure scoring game in 11 games played this year with 10 points.

Tulsa will return to the Donald W. Reynolds Center to face Tulane (7-5, 0-1 AAC) Tuesday, Jan. 2, at 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+.