Tulsa’s Late Game Heroics Fuels Double-Digit Comeback, 74-70

Wednesday, February 14

Reynolds Center

6:30 PM

Tulsa

18-7,8-4AAC

UTSA

12-11,6-6AAC

UTSA

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa’s Late Game Heroics Fuels Double-Digit Comeback, 74-70

2/14/2024 10:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa overcame a 13-point deficit in the final six minutes to claim a 74-70 win over the UTSA Roadrunners Wednesday night in front of 1,177 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 18-7 overall and 8-4 in American Athletic Conference play, while UTSA fell to 12-11 and 6-6 in league play. The 18 wins for Tulsa are the most in nine years since posting an 18-14 mark in the 2014-15 campaign.

The come-from-behind victory was the fifth 4^th quarter comeback this season for the Hurricane, as well as the largest.

Temira Poindexter's 20 points, including 10 in the final quarter and eight in the last 5:21 of the game, led four players in double-digit for the Hurricane. Delanie Crawford added 15 points, Mady Cartwright 13 and Jessika Evans 10.

"I can't say enough about this team's heart," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp. "I know I sound like a broken record, but it's unbelievable what they do and the amount of the amount of fight that they have. What propels this team and drives them forward was that there wasn't a single moment in that game where anybody doubted that we were going to win. When you have that type of belief in each other and have that confidence in each other, they're going to do it."

Tulsa's comeback was sparked by Poindexter's three-pointer at the 5:21 mark cutting the UTSA lead to 10 points, and beginning a 21-4 run to close out the game for the Hurricane victory. Cartwright's trey made it a seven-point game and Crawford's fastbreak layup and free throw cut the Roadrunners lead to four points at 66-62, all happening in just 1:12.

With 3:36 left in the contest, Katia Gallegos' field goal made it a two-point game at 66-64, but Aysia Proctor's three-pointer pushed the UTSA lead back to five points.

From there, Tulsa finished the game on a 10-1 run beginning with Cartwright and Poindexter again connecting on back-to-back treys for a 70-69 Tulsa lead with just 1:27 left on the game clock.

"Getting the stops we got down the stretch propelled us to the 21-4 scoring run, we did that on the defensive end of the floor. We did that with huge blocks. We did that by coming up with big steals. We did that by getting big rebounds and being able to push and play in the open floor. And when we get in the open floor, you see the connection that this team has, and you see the way that they share the ball and the unselfishness that we play with. When you have that on your team, I think it's pretty special," added Nelp.

With 20 points, Poindexter now has 509 points on the year, marking the sixth time and just the fourth player to register 500+ points in a single season. Crawford's 15 points tonight brought the junior to within seven points of becoming just the 13^th player in school history and the second player this season to hit the 1,000-point plateau for a career.

Tulsa led 38-34 at halftime, while UTSA outscored the Hurricane 21-13 in the third quarter to take a 55-51 lead at the end of the period.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
UTSA opened the scoring with a three-pointer while Tulsa didn't score until nearly two minutes were gone in the quarter.

Tulsa took its first lead at 5-3 on a Hadley Periman three-pointer and kept the lead the remainder of the quarter.

Tulsa took its largest lead at 22-16 before UTSA's Kyra Whit's trey cut the Hurricane lead to three points, 22-19, at the end of the period

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
UTSA tied the score at 24 by outscoring Tulsa 5-2 in the first 1:41 of the period.

The Hurricane went on a 9-0 run to take a 33-24 lead on a Delanie Crawford three-pointer at the 4:31 mark.

The Roadrunners closed out the half outscoring Tulsa 10-5 in the final 4:04.

At halftime, Tulsa held a 38-34 lead.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
UTSA scored the first six points to take its first lead 40-38, since the 8:02 mark of the first quarter

The Roadrunners increased its lead to as many as five points with under two minutes left in the quarter.

UTSA led by four points, 55-51, after three periods of play.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
UTSA opened the final frame on an 11-2 lead to take its largest lead of 13 points, 66-53, at the seven-minute mark.

Poindexter's three-pointer at the 5:21 mark cut the UTSA advantage to 10 points and began a 21-4 run to close out the come-from-behind victory.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa improved to 18-7 on the season and 8-4 in the American Athletic Conference.
• The 18 wins are the most victories in nine years since posting an 18-14 record in 2014-15 season.
• The 13-point comeback win is the largest this season and marks the fifth time that Tulsa has come-from-behind in the 4^th quarter for a victory.
• Tulsa led at halftime for the 18^th times this season, and Tulsa now has a 14-4 record.
• Junior Temira Poindexter has now scored in double-figures for the 25^th game this year and for the 70^th time in 83 career games with 20 points.
• It was Poindexter's 30^th career game with 20 or more points and the 15^th time this season.
• She now has scored double-digits in her last 29 games dating back to last season.
• Poindexter surpassed 500 points in the season as her 20 points gives her 509 on the season, thus marking the sixth time a Tulsa player has scored 500+ points in a season and she is just the fourth player to do so.
• Junior Delanie Crawford had her 23^rd double-figure scoring game of the season and the 49^th of her career with 15 points.
• Crawford is now 7 points shy of becoming the 13^th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points … she now has 993 career points.
• Senior Jessika Evans had her first double-figure scoring game of the season with 10 points and the 12^th of her career.
• Freshman Mady Cartwright had her eighth double-digit scoring game of the season with 13.
• Cartwright hit 3-of-4 three-pointers making it the eighth time this year that she's connected on at least three treys.

Tulsa travels north across the Oklahoma-Kansas border for a 2 p.m. Saturday game against the Wichita State Shockers, before returning next Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. game against UAB.

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+.