Tulsa Women Cruise to a Dominating 93-70 Win Over Wichita State

Saturday, January 20

Reynolds Center

2:00 PM

Tulsa

14-5,4-2AAC

Wichita State

6-13,2-5AAC

Wichita St.

Tulsa

Tulsa Women Cruise to a Dominating 93-70 Win Over Wichita State

1/20/2024 5:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score GAME BOOK (PDF)SEASON STATS (PDF)Postgame Press Conference

TULSA, Okla. –– Temira Poindexter's career-high 31 points led Tulsa to a 93-70 American Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon over the Wichita State Shockers at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Poindexter's performance wasn't the only career-breaking outing for the Hurricane. Ahrray Young had her first career double-double with 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Amira Brown had her first career double-figuring scoring game with a career-best 19 points on 7-of-7 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range and 23-of-6 from the free throw line.

"What a fun game and what an amazing job our team did today. I think one of the things we're most proud of is the display of teamwork that we had today and the way that we shared the ball and had balanced scoring. It was so impressive, and I'm so excited for our team to be able to display some of those things that they've been working really hard on in practice. We had four players in double figures, which was amazing," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp.

The stat-line for Poindexter, a Sapulpa, Okla. native, read 11-of-18 from the field, 6-of 12 from three-point range, 3-of-5 from the free throw line, eight rebounds, one assist, one block and just one turnover.

Crawford added 19 points, five rebounds and a team-high seven rebounds.

Tulsa (14-5, 4-2 AAC) led from start to finish and by as many as 27 points at various parts of the game. Wichita State (6-13, 2-5 AAC) also had four double-digit scorers while Daniela Abies led the way for the Shockers with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hurricane sprinted out to a double-digit lead in the first 6:12 of the game and for a good portion of the first quarter and the remainder of the game led by double-figures as Tulsa doubled the Shockers in the first 10 minutes with a 30-15 lead after one period.

Tulsa's 30 first quarter points was a season high for a period as the Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field and 50-percent from three-point range.

After Tulsa took a 12-point lead on Crawford's three-pointer at the 0:32 mark of the second quarter the Hurricane kept its double-digit lead the remainder of the contest.

Tulsa built its first 27-point lead in the second quarter and finished the first half with a 23- point advantage and a halftime score of 56-33. The Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field, 56-percent from three-point range and 73-percent from the charity stripe.

Poindexter led all first-half scorers with 18 points followed by Crawford and Young with 15 each.

After a slow start after halftime, the Hurricane ended the third quarter on a 10-2 run over the final 3:35 to take a 75-50 lead heading into the final period. Tulsa's lead in the final quarter didn't drop under 21 points and was as high as 27 three times.

"Another area we're proud of is holding Wichita State on the offensive rebounds. We knew coming into the game that we would have to hold them on the boards, and in the first half, the way that we held them on the boards was just impressive. A lot of that was from some of our interior players, but our guards rebounded really well. So, we were able to play fast and fun and free like we like to, and we were able to convert and have a good field goal percentage and hold them on the boards," Nelp added.

Tulsa held a 46-31 edge in rebounding, including a 10-8 advantage on the offensive boards. The Hurricane dished out 20 assists for its 31 field goals made and had a season-high 14 three-pointers on 46.7 percent shooting from behind the arc.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa jumped out to a 10-3 lead on four points from Ahrray Young and three-pointers from Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter.

Hadley Periman's three-pointer at the 3:48 mark gave the Hurricane its first double-digit lead at 19-7.

The Hurricane closed the first quarter with a 30-15 lead, scoring the final six points in the final 0:32 on a three-pointer from behind the arc and a traditional three-pointer.

Crawford score 10 first-quarter points as the Hurricane scored a season-high 30 points in any quarter this season.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
After Wichita State scored the opening two points of the second quarter to make the score 30-17, Tulsa went on a 14-0 run for a 27-point advantage, making the score 44-17 at the 6:41 mark.

Tulsa led by that many, 27 points, three times in the second period … the second time was at the 4:57 mark when Crawford's two free throws made the score 49-22 and the third time was when it was 51-24 after a Poindexter jumper.

Poindexter scored 10 second-quarter points to lead the Hurricane to a 56-33 halftime lead, and a 26-18 edge in the second quarter.

Tulsa's 56 points was the most in a half since scoring 55 in the first half last year against South Carolina State (Nov. 26, 2022) and is one shy of the school record of 57 points against Langston on Jan. 3, 2013, in the first half.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
After a slow start to the quarter the Hurricane ended on a 10-2 run over the final 3:35 to take a 75-50 lead at the end of the third period.

WSU cut its 23-point halftime deficit to 16 points at the 3:55 mark before a Temira Poindexter trey made it a 20-point game again 0:30 later to begin its 10-2 run in the final three minutes

Tulsa shot just 37.5-percent from the field and 30-percent from three-point range in the period

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Tulsa's lead in the final quarter didn't drop under 21 points and was as high as 27 three times.

Amira Brown's nine points and three rebounds in the period led the Hurricane.

Tulsa shot 54-percent from the field and 50-percent from three-point range in the quarter.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa improved to 14-5 on the season and 4-2 in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa's 93 points was a season-high and the most since 96 points against Northwestern State last year on Dec. 19, 2022.
• Tulsa has a 5-1 mark against Wichita State over the last six games.
• Tulsa is now 10-1 when leading after the first quarter.
• Tulsa scored 30 points in the first quarter for the most points in a quarter this season and the first time since scoring 33 points in the 4^th quarter against UCF last year on March 1, 2023
• Tulsa had three-players with double-digit points in the first half – Poindexter 18, Crawford 15 and Young 15.
• Tulsa ended the game with four double-figures scorers for just the fourth this season.
• Tulsa's 56 first-half points is one shy of the school record 57 points set against Langston on Jan. 3, 2013.
• Tulsa led at halftime for the 12^th time this year and now stands at 10-2 in those games.
• Tulsa made a season-high 14 three-pointers, going 14-of-30 for 50.0 percent … it was the sixth game this year that Tulsa has made double-digit three-pointers and broke the previous high of 13 set in Tulsa's last game at FAU.
• Junior Temira Poindexter had her second game of the season and also the second of her career with 30+ points as she tallied 31 points … her previous 30+ scoring game was 30 points in the second game of the season against New Orleans.
• She has now scored in double-figures in all 19 games this year and for the 64^th time in 77 career games.
• It was her 10^th game this year with 20 points and her 25^th career 20+ scoring game.
• Poindexter moved up one spot on the school's career field goals made list into 7^th place with 441 career made field goals.
• Junior Delanie Crawford had her 17^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 43^rd of her career with 19 points.
• Sophomore Ahrray Young had her second career double-double and first of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
• Her 12 rebounds was a career-high, besting her previous high of 10 vs. Texas Southern on Dec. 22, 2022.
• It was Young's ninth double-figure scoring game of the season and 18^th time in her career.

Tulsa will host the AAC's co-leading Rice Owls (11-6, 5-1 AAC) on Wednesday 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+.