Tulsa Gets Win No. 20 With 72-65 Comeback Over South Florida

Sunday, February 25

Reynolds Center

2:00 PM

Tulsa

20-8,10-5AAC

South Florida

16-13,8-8AAC

South Fla.

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Gets Win No. 20 With 72-65 Comeback Over South Florida

2/25/2024 5:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score GAME BOOK (PDF)PRESS CONFERENCE

Tulsa comes back from 16-point deficit

TULSA, Okla. –– Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter combined for 51 points to lead Tulsa's come-from-behind victory over South Florida Sunday afternoon in front of 1,393 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 20-8 and second place in the American Athletic Conference with a 10-5 record, winning 20 games for just the second time in school history and the first since the 2005-06 season when the Golden Hurricane finished 26-6. The win was also the first against South Florida in 14 tries, as the Bulls fell to 16-13 overall and 8-8 in league play.

Tulsa heads to Philadelphia, Pa., for a Wednesday night game against the league's first-place Temple Owls. The Owls, who won the earlier meeting in Tulsa, sit at 11-4 in league play, and 17-10 overall.

"I can't say enough about our team and the fight we had," said Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp. "I felt like our team faced some different challenges in the game today than what we have at different times this season. We got into foul trouble a little bit early and we were able to stay with things and continue to move forward. We did a great job of making the adjustments that we needed to make defensively throughout the game."

Crawford tallied 30 points with 25 coming in the second half, while Poindexter added 21 points and freshman Elise Hill had season-highs of 12 points in 24 minutes. Crawford finished the day connecting on 10-of-15 from the field, 6-of-9 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Crawford was saddled with two early first-half fouls and was held to five points in just seven minutes of play, but Poindexter and Hill combined for 21 of Tulsa's 32 points in the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa trailed 32-16 at the 7:03 mark of the second quarter but trimmed that 16-point deficit to three points at the intermission.

Crawford hit Tulsa's first basket to start the second half, a three-pointer, that tied the score at 35. USF regained the lead and led for most of the period until Crawford knocked down a three-pointer with 0:05 on the clock to put Tulsa ahead 48-47 entering the final period.

The largest lead of the first five minutes of the fourth quarter was a two-point Tulsa lead at the 8:37 mark as a Crawford trey made the score 53-51. Crawford knocked down another long-range shot at the 4:03 mark for a 65-60 lead, and her next three-point attempt also found the bottom of the net for a 68-61 advantage with 3:28 remaining in the contest.

Crawford connected on 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 0:33 to conclude the game with Tulsa's final 10 points.

"I can't say enough about Delanie and being able to come out in that second half and score the ball the way that she did, which helped our team tremendously. Temira comes through for us time and time again on the offensive and defensive end of the floor," added Nelp.

"I would really love to highlight Elise Hill. There are players who work incredibly hard and sometimes opportunities come in games for playing time, and sometimes they don't. Elise has worked incredibly hard all year to be able to step in when opportunities arrive and she came through for us today."

USF outtrebounded Tulsa 48-32, but the Hurricane scored 16 points off 16 turnovers, while turning the ball over only nine times for its second-lowest output of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
USF jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Tulsa tied the game at 8-8 and again at 11-all.

From that 11-11 game, the Bulls then outscored Tulsa 15-4 for the remainder of the first quarter to take a 26-15 lead at the end of the frame.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
The Bulls took their largest lead of 16 points, 32-16, on a Maria Alvarez three-pointer with 7:03 on the clock.

Tulsa clipped away at the lead in the final seven minutes as Amira Brown's three-pointer at the 6:42 mark began a final 16-3 run for the Hurricane to close the half trailing by only three points at 35-32.

The Hurricane outscored USF in the period 17-9.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Delanie Crawford's trey opened the second half to tie the game at 35-all.

Other than another tie game at 45-45, South Florida led for the remainder of the third quarter until the final 0:05.

Crawford's three-pointer before the buzzer gave Tulsa its first lead of the game at 48-47 heading into the fourth quarter.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
The largest lead of the first five minutes of the fourth quarter was a two-point Tulsa lead at the 8:37 mark as a Crawford trey made the score 53-51.

Crawford knocked down another long-range shot at the 4:03 mark for a 65-60 lead, and her next three-point attempt also found the bottom of the net for a 68-61 advantage with 3:28 remaining.

Crawford scored Tulsa's final 10 points of the game.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa improved to 20-8 on the season and 10-5 in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa is tied for second place in the AAC with North Texas and is one game behind 11-4 Temple.
• It's only the second 20+ win season in school history … the previous was 26 wins in the 2005-06 season.
• Tula trailed after the first quarter for the 9^th time this season and the second time at home, and now is 3-0 at home in those games.
• Tulsa had their 10^th game with 10 or more three-pointers this year with 10.
• Juniors Delanie Crawford (30) and Temira Poindexter (21) each scored better than 20 points giving Tulsa an 8-0 record when two players score 20+points in a game, including 7-0 for Crawford and Poindexter.
• Crawford had her 26^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 52^nd of her career with 30 points today.
• Crawford scored 25 of Tulsa's 40 second-half points.
• Crawford's 30 points is her third 30+ scoring game of the season and of her career.
• With a season-high six made three-pointers on 6-of-9, Crawford set the school's single-season record with 79 treys, surpassing Athena Pirpich's 77 (2000-01).
• Poindexter scored in double-figures for the 28^th game this year and for the 73^rd time in 86 career games.
• Poindexter's 14 first-half points marked the 13^th time this season that she scored in double-figures in the first half.
• Poindexter has now scored double-digits in her last 32 games dating back to last season.
• Poindexter's had her 12^th game this year with 3 or more three-pointers made as she knocked down 3-of-8 treys.
• Freshman Elise Hill scored her season-high of 12 points in a season-high 24 minutes.
• Poindexter has now tallied 1,400 career points and Crawford has scored 1,069 points in her three seasons.

Tulsa will be on the road Wednesday to face the league-leading Temple Owls in Philadelphia. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN+. 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+.