Tulsa Women Take Down Tulane 72-54

Tuesday, January 2

Reynolds Center

6:30 PM

Tulsa

12-3,2-0AAC

Tulane

7-6,0-2AAC

Tulane

Tulsa

Tulsa Women Take Down Tulane 72-54

1/2/2024 9:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Coach Nelp Press Conference

Hurricane move to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in AAC play

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa improved to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play with a 72-54 home win over the Tulane Green Wave Tuesday night in front of 1,031 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Temira Poindexter, Ahrray Young and Delanie Crawford combined for 61 of Tulsa's 72 points. Poindexter had a game-high 24 points, Young added 20 and Crawford dropped in 17 points for the Hurricane

It was Poindexter's ninth 20+ scoring game this season and 24^th for her career as she moved in eighth place on the school's all-time scoring chart with 1,133 career points. The sophomore Young had her first 20-point scoring game of her career.

Tulane fell to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in league play. The win snapped an eight-game Green Wave winning streak in the series.

The Hurricane jumped out to a 5-0 lead and led for the entire game. Tulsa built an eight-point halftime lead at 34-26 as Poindexter and Young combined for 29 of Tulsa's 34 first half points. Poindexter tallied 17 and Young had 12.

Tulsa built its largest lead of 23 points in the fourth quarter, while Tulane only could get as close as 15 points in the period.

"Super excited to start the new year off with a win like that," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "First of all Tulane is a very good team that's very well coached and so I'm very happy that our team was able to come away with a victory today. It is so nice to be back in the Reynolds Center. We have such a great crowd and such a great support system in the community.

"I felt like our team played well for the majority of the game. I felt like we started really strong, but had a little bit of ups and downs at the end of the first quarter. This team's heart is unbelievable. They play so hard. We were able to really share the ball with each other today. We had multiple players come through big for us from a scoring standpoint, and even from a defensive standpoint. I love that our defense showed through."

For the game, Tulsa held Tulane to 30.8 percent from the field and 24 percent from behind the arc, while the Hurricane shot 49 percent overall and 39 percent from three-point range.

Tulsa led in scoring each quarter, with its largest advantage of nine points coming in the third period.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa started the game on a 5-0 run and posted its biggest lead of eight points twice in the period as the Hurricane led for the entire quarter.

Two back-to-back Ahrray Young layups within a 0:40 span put Tulsa ahead by eight in the quarter.

Temira Poindexter had 11 of Tulsa's 20 first quarter points.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Caranda Perea's jumper in the paint put Tulsa ahead by 11 points, 29-18, at the 5:19 mark.

Poindexter made it a 12-point game at 34-22 when she knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Tulane scored the final four points of the period to make the halftime score 34-26.

Poindexter and Young combined for 29 of Tulsa's 34 first half points as Poindexter tallied 17 and Young had 12.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Tulsa opened the second half on a 17-4 run to take its first 20+ lead of the game as Poindexter's trey made the score 51-30 at the 4:05 mark.

Tulane ended the quarter on a 7-3 run, but Tulsa outscored the Green Wave in the period by a count of 20-11 and led after three periods 54-37.

Delanie Crawford led the Hurricane scoring in the quarter with eight points.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
After Tulane opened the quarter with two points off a layup, Tulsa scored the next six points to take a 60-39 lead at the 7:12 mark.

Tulsa took its largest lead of the game at 23 points, 62-39 on layup by Young.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa moves to 12-3 on the season and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference.
• The win snapped Tulane's eight-game winning streak in the series … it was Tulsa's first win in the series since February 10, 2019.
• The 18-point win is the largest in the series for the Hurricane, beating the previous high of 13 points that occurred twice.
• Tulsa led at halftime for the 9^th time this year, now 8-1 in those games.
• Tulsa has started off the year 12-3 for the third consecutive season.
• This was the fifth game of the season that Tulsa had two players score 20+ points on 24 from Poindexter and 20 from Ahrray Young.
• Junior Temira Poindexter has now scored in double-figures in all 15 games this year and for the 60^th time in her career time in 73 career games.
• She had 11 points in the first half, making it the third time this year she has reached double-digits in the first quarter.
• It was Poindexter's ninth 20+ scoring game this season and 24^th for her career.
• With 24 points tonight, Poindexter now has 1,133 career points for 8^th place on the school's all-time scoring chart, surpassing Carla Morrow (1,113 pts, 1998-02) for ninth place and Megan Moody (1,122 pts, 2002-06) for eighth place.
• Young had her seventh double-figure scoring game in 12 games played this year with a career-high 20 points.
• Junior Delanie Crawford had her 13^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 39^th of her career.
• Cam Mathews and Jessika Evans saw their first action of the season, coming back from injuries.

Tulsa will be back at the Reynolds Center Saturday to face Temple in a 2 p.m. tipoff. 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+.