Crawford Scores 36, Hill Steals Eight in 93-84 Win over East Carolina

Sunday, December 29

Tulsa, Okla.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

7-6,1-0AAC

East Carolina

8-5,0-1AAC

East Carolina

Tulsa

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Crawford Scores 36, Hill Steals Eight in 93-84 Win over East Carolina

12/29/2024 7:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa women's basketball team started the American Athletic Conference season with a bang Sunday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center, taking down East Carolina (8-5, 0-1 AAC) in a high-scoring 93-84 thriller. Big games by senior Delanie Crawford and sophomore Elise Hill pushed the Golden Hurricane to 7-6 on the year and 1-0 in the young conference season.

Crawford would finish with 36 points on 14-20 shooting, the third-highest individual scoring game in program history and the second-most scored in a conference game. Hill picked up eight steals, the second-most ever by a Tulsa player.

Hill led a defensive effort that forced 34 turnovers by the Pirates, letting the Hurricane offense score 37 points off ECU's errors.

Each team had four players in double-figure scoring territory. Both squads finished above 50% shooting with TU going 35-62 (56.5%) from the field and ECU finishing 32-62 (51.6%). 67 combined field goals are the most ever recorded in the Reynolds Center.

Although both teams scored over 40 per half, Tulsa was the more effective shooting team, leading for 32 minutes and never trailing after the 6:16 mark in the second quarter.

Tulsa also owned the paint, scoring 50 points from close range compared to ECU's 38 points in the paint. Players like Hadley Periman (14 points), Paige Bradley (12 points) and Kristol Ayson (10 points) dominated under the basket

Bradley led TU with five assists, Crawford paced the Hurricane with seven boards and Periman boosted the defense with two blocks, surpassing her AAC-leading season average of 1.78.

"It was such a great team win," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "I'm so proud of our entire team and the effort that they had and the heart and the relentlessness that they showed on the floor. We know that we have a really competitive league, and we knew we had to show up and we had to be our best. Delanie Crawford had a career-high 36 points, you've got Elise Hill that comes in with eight steals. You've got Hadley Periman who comes in with 14 points, and then Kristol follows that up with 10, and then Paige who added 12. There's so many other contributions than just the scoring too. You've got team rebounding, you've got assists and you've got steals. And the way that our team worked together today, I was really proud of them.

"We knew we had to keep an up-tempo game. [ECU]'s a very good team. They're a very good defensive team that is holding a lot of teams in the 50's and some teams in the 40's, so I felt like our players did a great job preparing and executing you know that game plan to keep it a high possession game."

East Carolina was led by Jayla Hearp's 21 points. Khia Miller (13), Amiya Joyner (12) and Tatyana Wyche (10) joined her in double-figure scoring. Wyche finished with nine rebounds, one shy of earning a double-double.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
ECU opened the scoring with a three-pointer but was quickly answered back by a layup from Delanie Crawford. After the Pirates' Amiya Joyner made her first bucket, Tulsa enjoyed a seven-point run fueled by a layup and trey from Hadley Periman. The Pirates would stop the run and tie it up at 9-9 with a jumper from Anzhane Hutton at 7:54.

Crawford made her third consecutive field goal to open the game when she drew a shooting foul from mid-range and sank the subsequent and-1 free throw.

East Carolina was held scoreless for over two minutes until Journee McDaniel made her first shot of the day from beyond the arc at 4:11. The next score came at 2:55 when Amiya Joyner stole the ball from TU's Jade Clack and assisted Jayla Hearp on the full-court fast-break layup. Clack drew a shooting foul on the following possession made up with a pair of free throws.

Crawford then moved to 11 points at 2:03 with a layup and added two more on a jump shot near the paint. ECU answered each of Crawford's scores and went ahead 26-22 when Hearp made a three with seven seconds left.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Tulsa had a big second quarter, outscoring ECU 26-14.

Kristol Ayson fielded a beautiful pass from Delanie Crawford to nab an easy layup to start the quarter ECU scored four off a pair of layups while Crawford added eight points to get to 21 on the day with a couple of threes and a contested layup to go up 32-30 at 7:30.

Tulsa then scored six unanswered points with two-point field goals from Hadley Periman, Elise Hill and Crawford. Kennedi Alexander got herself on the goal with a jumper at 2:57 and saw her teammate Periman score her 10^th point a few seconds later with a three.

Crawford and Hill each scored again before ECU put up a pair of last-second free throws to close the gap to eight points. Tulsa led 48-40 at the break.

In the first half, TU was 65.5% from the field (19-29), 62.5% from deep (5-8) and 50% from the line (5-10), while ECU was 55.6% in shooting (15-27), 66.7% in threes (6-9) and 66.7% from the charity stripe (4-6).

Delanie Crawford was 10-11 in field goals, including 3-3 in triples and 3-3 from the free throw line for 26 points through the first half, tying the Reynolds Center individual record for most points in a half (Kendrian Elliott vs. Arkansas State (11-9-19), second half).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Delanie Crawford continued to take the ball to the basket, scoring the opening points of the second half and reaching 30 points at 9:19 on a jumper. From there, the Pirates

Elise Hill nabbed her eighth steal of the game at 9:06, tying the Reynolds Center record and sitting just two steals shy of the program record (10 by Jillian Robbins vs. Memphis (1/7/07)).

TU led by as many as 14 points at 61-47 when Mady Cartwright converted an and-1 at 4:13. Then, ECU took advantage of an 8-0 run before Paige Bradley snapped the drought with a layup, giving the Hurricane at 63-55 with 59 seconds left.

Kristol Ayson capped the quarter with a pair of free throws to answer an ECU field goal, giving Tulsa a 65-57 lead entering the final frame.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Mady Cartwright fielded a pass from Hadley Periman and took the ball to the basket for the opening score of the quarter.

Tulsa got to 70 points on the day when Kristol Ayson drained a fast-break three-pointer from Elise Hill. The Hurricane continued to hold ECU with free throws by Delanie Crawford and Paige Bradley to go with another layup by Kristol Ayson at 5:26 and two more free throws by Hadley Periman to put Tulsa up by 12 at 78-66

Bradley and Mady Cartwright layups put the Hurricane up 82-69 at 4:12.

Clutch steals by Hadley Periman and Bradley led to back-to-back fast-break layups by Bradley and Hill. It was Bradley's 10^th point of the contest and Tulsa's 90^th point of the game. Then, Delanie Crawford surpassed her career-high in points (35) with yet another layup at 1:30, putting her at 36.

For the final 90 seconds, each team traded field goals on seven consecutive possessions, allowing Tulsa to run away with a 93-84 victory.

GAME NOTES

Tulsa improved to 17-14 against the Pirates, 15-14 in conference openers and 4-0 in conference openers under Angie Nelp.
TU's 93-84 victory was one for the Golden Hurricane record books. Here's the breakdown of all the record impacts:
- Delanie Crawford
  - Tied the individual Reynolds Center record for most points in a half with 26 in the first half (Kendrian Elliott vs. Arkansas State (11/9/19), second half).
  - Scored the third-most points ever in a game for TU with 36 (Record: 40).
    - 36 points is the second-highest total by a TU player against a conference team (Record: 38).
  - Made the second-most field goals in a game with 14 (Record: 16)
    - 14 field goals tied the record for most made in a game by a TU player against a conference opponent.
- Elise Hill
  - Ties the individual Reynolds Center record for most steals in a game with eight, which is the second-most all-time in a game by a TU player. Jillian Robbins holds the record at 10 vs. Memphis (1/7/07).
    - Eight steals is also the second-highest total recorded against a conference team.
- Tulsa
  - 93 points scored is tied for the eighth-most in a single game by Tulsa. It matches last year's highest score by the Hurricane (93-70 win over Wichita State).
  - 35 team field goals ties the record for the most field goals made against a conference team.
  - A .565 shooting percentage is the second-best mark against a conference foe.
  - 21 team steals stands as the second-highest tally versus a conference program.
- Tulsa and ECU Combined
  - The two teams combined for 67 made field goals (Tulsa (35), ECU (32)) for a Reynolds Center record.
Senior Delanie Crawford led Tulsa in scoring for a 10^th time this season, putting up a career-high 36 points. It's her 12^th double-figure scoring game this season, and 70^th of her career. It's also her 20^th game with over 20 points and fourth in the 30-point range.
Crawford also led Tulsa in rebounds for a fourth time this season. She finished with seven.
Junior Hadley Periman came away with 14 points. It's her third game scoring in double-digits this season and 10^th of her career.
Redshirt Junior Paige Bradley collected 12 points for her fourth game in double-figures and seventh of her career.
Bradley led TU with five assists. It's her third game leading the Hurricane in assists.
Senior Kristol Ayson tallied 10 points, reaching double-digits for the third time this season and 47^th of her career (13 in NCAA, 34 in NJCAA).
Sophomore Elise Hill boosted the defense with eight steals, a career-best.
Periman's two blocks moved her to 99 career rejections. She needs 22 to pass Megan Moody's (2002-06) 120 blocks for sixth on the all-time TU blocks chart.
Crawford's 36 points moved her to 1,439 career points. She needs 74 points to pass Larrissa Williams' (2006-10) 1,512 points for fifth on the all-time Hurricane points chart.
Crawford also had three three-pointers Sunday, ranking third for career triples (219) in program history, needing four more to pass Kara Pongonis-Paslay's (2002-06) 222 threes.
Crawford stands at No. 6 in the all-time field-goals-made career chart for TU with 493 after recording 14 on Friday. She needs 77 more to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 569 FG's for fifth.