Golden Hurricane Rolls Through Chicago State, 76-46

Wednesday, November 27

Tulsa, Okla.

6:30 p.m.

Tulsa

2-4,0-0AAC

Chicago State

0-9,0-0NEC

Chicago St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Golden Hurricane Rolls Through Chicago State, 76-46

11/27/2024 10:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa women's basketball team got itself back in the win column Wednesday night with a decisive 76-46 winner over Chicago State (0-9) in front of 1,300 fans enjoying the night before Thanksgiving under the lights of the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The Golden Hurricane snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 2-4 on the young season.

Multiple TU players enjoyed a career night on the home court. Senior Delanie Crawford took control of the game on offense and defense, coming away with her seventh career double-double with 25 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore Mady Cartwright tied her personal-best in rebounds with eight on the night to go with a career-high four steals.

Adding to the defensive effort was senior Lexie Foutch with a career-best three blocks, while redshirt junior Paige Bradley contributed eight boards. Bradley also achieved a personal record of six assists, a team-leading effort.

Tulsa scored first and never looked back, leading by as many as 30 points as time expired for the 76-46 win.

The Hurricane prevailed on a 25-4 scoring run over Chicago State late in the fourth quarter which sealed the victory for Tulsa. The Cougars did make it a competitive game at a few moments, keeping the deficit within three points at 24-21 at 6:49 in the second quarter and nine points at 51-42 with 8:08 left in the game.

"I'm really excited and proud of the way our team played," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "I felt like in our last couple games, we've had some really good starts. One of the biggest things that stands out the most in this game is the way we shared the ball and played together. It was fun to see us really getting those assists. We had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. We won the war on the boards, which was one of our goals. Those two areas for us have been key to our growth, and it's something that we've been working on. It was fun to be able to see our players execute that. We had a great game from Delanie Crawford. She was able to get a double-double. You saw Mady Cartwright come through time and time again, not just what she did offensively, but defensively with her steals. And then we saw [Kennedi] Alexander come in the game and give us a ton of momentum with her steals in the press. I'm really proud of the teamwork that we had today, really proud of the balance that we had offensively and defensively."

Tulsa shot 39.2% from the field (29-74), including 22.9% in three-pointers (8-35), and 10-10 in free throws, while the Cougars went 29.5% in field goals (18-61), 31.3% in treys (5-16) and 55.6% in free throws (5-9).

Forward Aiyanna Culver paced the Cougars with 20 points, and guard Tally Williams led with seven rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa scored first when Paige Bradley knocked away a second-chance bucket in the paint at 9:10. Tulsa would open the game on an 8-0 run before the Cougars finally got on the board with a three-pointer at 6:38.

Tulsa added five more points before CSU scored on a layup at 4:48. From there, Tulsa shot aggressively and gave up 10 points before ending the first quarter on top 20-15.

Delanie Crawford had a big first quarter with nine points and four rebounds.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
The Hurricane stayed on the offensive, taking open shots throughout the second frame and never allowing Chicago State to tie or take the lead. Kristol Ayson, Mady Cartwright and Delanie Crawford each had six points in the period, with Ayson going a perfect 3-3 in the 10-minute span.

The Cougars came to within three points at 24-21, but TU pulled away with an 18-8 scoring run, leading by as much as 16 points at 42-26 before Chicago State's Aiyanna Culver sank a last-second three-pointer to seal the halftime score at 42-29 Tulsa.

At the half, Tulsa was shooting 41.5% off 17-of-41 shooting, 20% from three-point land (4-20) and 100% in free throws (4-4). Chicago State was 34.4% from the field (11-32), 50% in threes (4-8) and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
The third quarter was the quietest period of the game as each team scored just nine points. TU made just three field goals in 18 attempts (16.7%) from three players to go with two free throws, while the Cougars were not much better at 4-16 made field goals for 25% shooting.

After CSU's Culver made another three-pointer at 2:09 to make it a 51-38 contest, neither team scored for the rest of the quarter as Tulsa led by 13 entering the fourth quarter.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Tulsa was held scoreless for the first 1:52 of the final frame as Chicago State cut the deficit to just nine at 51-42 with back-to-back baskets from Culver. But the Hurricane shrugged off any chance at a comeback for the Cougars, going on a huge scoring run of 25-4 to run away with the game and seal the deal at 76-46.

Fueling that game-icing scoring run was Delanie Crawford's eight points and Mady Cartwright's six points.

GAME NOTES

This was the first game Tulsa had ever played against a team from the Northeast Conference (NEC).
The first game of the series with Chicago State ended in the Hurricane's favor.
Tulsa shot its 19^th perfect free throw game in program history, going 10-10 from the line … it's TU's third time ever having a perfect charity contest with over 10 attempts (10-10 vs. Hawaii (2-27-03); 12-12 vs. Nevada (3-8-03).
Senior Delanie Crawford enjoyed her fifth double-figure scoring contest this year and 64^th of her career.
Crawford's 25 points is the 18^th time she's scored 20+ in a game.
Crawford also added 13 rebounds, her seventh game with double-digit boards.
Crawford secured her seventh double-double with 25 points and 13 boards, both team-highs.
Crawford tied the program record with 14 attempted three-pointers in a single game.
Sophomore Mady Cartwright recorded her second double-digit scoring game with 15 points … it's the 12^th time she's scored 10+ points in a game.
Cartwright also led the floor with four steals.
Cartwright continues to lead the American Athletic Conference in free throw percentage (.909) after having her third 100% game this season, going 4-4 against the Cougars.
Redshirt junior Paige Bradley posted a team-leading and career-high six assists … it's the first time a TU player had 6+ assists since Elise Hill recorded seven against Illinois in the WBIT Quarterfinal last season.
After averaging 1.9 minutes per game, Kennedi Alexander saw 21:41 minutes against the Cougars, scoring her first career points (6), rebounds (5) and steals (3)
Tulsa won the rebound battle by 18 boards, 53-35 … it's the first time since the Illinois game (16) last season that Tulsa outrebounded a team by more than 15 boards.
The Hurricane won by 30 points … TU last won a game by 25 or more points on Dec. 15, 2023, against Texas Southern (37, 82-45).
Delanie Crawford ranks third for career three-pointers in program history and needs 23 more to pass Kara Pongonis-Paslay's (2002-06) 222 threes.
Crawford is also ninth in career points (1,300), needing just two to pass Lila Osceola's (1996-00) 1,301 points
Crawford also stands at No. 8 in the all-time field-goals-made chart for TU with 439, passing Rebecca Lescay's (2017-22) 432 field goals … Crawford needs 12 more to move to No. 7 and pass Kasie Pittman's (1996-00) 450 field goals.

The Hurricane is back in action on Sunday, Dec. 1, when they take on the (RV) Creighton Bluejays in the Reynolds Center at 1 p.m. The game will air on ESPN2.