Poindexter and Crawford Lead Tulsa to 76-67 Road Win Over First-Place Temple

Wednesday, February 28

Philadelphia, Pa.

6:00 PM

Tulsa

21-8,11-5AAC

Temple

17-11,11-5AAC

Tulsa

Temple

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Poindexter and Crawford Lead Tulsa to 76-67 Road Win Over First-Place Temple

2/28/2024 9:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The junior duo of Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford strike again as the pair combined for 54 points in Tulsa's 76-67 decision Wednesday over the first-place Temple Owls Wednesday in the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. The Golden Hurricane rose to 21-8 overall and 11-5 in American Athletic Conference play to tie with North Texas and Temple atop the league standings.

Poindexter had her fifth game of 30 or more points as the Sapulpa, Okla., native dropped 30 against the Owls Wednesday night. She now has 604 points on the year, joining Allison Curtin and Taleya Mayberry as the third player in program history to surpass 600 in a season. Conversely, Crawford's 24 points move her to 11^th place on the Tulsa career scoring chart with 1,093 points.

"I'm really proud of our team today," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "It's so hard to play on the road and the toughness we had to just continue to move forward and give our best effort made the difference. This team is amazing. They're so much fun to coach because they just have a belief that they're always going to win. I thought Temira Poindexter was huge for us and Delanie Crawford was huge for us in being able to have the mentality to get the ball in the paint like we were talking about and get to the rim against that pressure defense was what we needed and they came through in really clutch moments."

Free throws made a huge difference for the Hurricane as Tulsa went 19-for-22 at the line, putting up a season-best percentage of 86.4 percent.

Another new season-high was set on defense as Tulsa registered a whopping 12 blocks on the night, five of which came from Hadley Periman, two from Poindexter and one by five other Hurricane.

Poindexter and Hadley Periman each had nine boards to lead Tulsa's rebounders. Mady Cartwright chipped in 11 points for her 10^th double-digit scoring game, while Periman and Crawford each led with three assists.

Though Temple went only 2-of-16 in three-pointers, three Owls reached double-figures in points, including Tiarra East (16), Aleah Nelson (16) and Demi Washington (15).

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
The first five points of the game were made by Temira Poindexter, starting with a layup to open the scoring and a fastbreak three-pointer. Temple had a field goal drought for nearly three minutes that forced an Owls' timeout at 6:17.

The timeout rejuvenated Temple as the Owls grabbed their first lead of the game at 15-14, taking advantage of a scoring drought by Tulsa. The quarter ended with the Owls on top 17-14

Poindexter had nine points in the quarter.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Tulsa's scoring drought continued into the second quarter, lasting nearly seven minutes. Temple enjoyed its biggest lead of the day (9 points) at 23-14. Mady Cartwright snapped the drought with a three-pointer at 7:17 to make it a six-point game.

Tulsa fought to take back the lead at 28-25 following a triple and an and-1 from Temira Poindexter, who recorded another nine points in the period. From there, neither team led by more than four points as grabbed the lead at 0:43 on the clock and maintained control until the halftime buzzer, leading 35-32.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Temple made only 1-of-8 field goals in the first 5:23 of the quarter, allowing Tulsa to come back to knot it up at 39-39. In the lowest-scoring quarter of the game, neither team had more than five field goals as Tulsa went 4-of-15 from the field and Temple went 5-of-20. Tulsa never had the lead in the third as the Owls would lead 47-46 heading into the fourth quarter.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Delanie Crawford opened the final stanza right away with a layup to take the lead at 48-47. She added four free throws after to account for the first of Tulsa's 30 points in the quarter.

Tied at 57-57, Temira Poindexter made a floating jump shot in the paint to give Tulsa the deciding advantage as the Hurricane cruised from there to a 76-67 final score.

Crawford would finish the quarter with 14 points, eight of which came at the line and the rest from clutch baskets from the field.

Temira Poindexter shot perfectly in the final quarter, making 3-of-3 field goals, including a trey to go with 3-of-3 free throws made for 10 points.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa improved to 21-8 on the season and 11-5 in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa is now tied for first place in the AAC with identical 11-5 records with Temple and North Texas.
• Tulsa snapped a 3-game AAC road losing streak with the win over Temple.
• Juniors Temira Poindexter (30) and Delanie Crawford (24) each scored better than 20 points in the same game for the eighth time this season, giving Tulsa an 8-0 record in those games … overall Tulsa is 9-0 when two players have 20+ points in the same game.
• Tulsa shot a season-high .864 free throw percentage.
• Tulsa also had a season-best 12 blocked shots for the first double-digit blocks total this season.
• Poindexter scored in double-figures for the 29th game this year and for the 74th time in 87 career games.
• Poindexter hit 30 points for the fifth time this year to lead the AAC in that category.
• With her 30 points, Poindexter went over 600 points in a single season with 604 to become just the third player in school history to do so – Allison Curtin (692) and Taleya Mayberry (616).
• Poindexter's 18 first-half points marked the 14th time this season that she scored in double-figures in the first half … her 18 first-half points are the second game (UAPB) this year that she tallied 18 in the first half.
• Poindexter has now scored double-digits in her last 33 games dating back to last season.
• Poindexter had her 13th game this year with 3 or more three-pointers made as she knocked down 3-of-8 treys.
• Crawford had her 27th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 53rd of her career with 24 points today … it was also her 20th consecutive double-digit game.
• Freshman Elise Hill had her second straight game with multiple 3-pointers made and the 4th time this season with two treys made.
• Sophomore Hadley Periman had her 11th game this year with 2 or more blocks as her 5 blocks are her second-most this year and in her career.
• Periman led Tulsa in rebounding for the 15th time this season with 9 boards.
• Freshman Mady Cartwright had her 10th double-digit scoring game with 11 points.
• Poindexter has now tallied 1,430 career points to rank 5th in school history and Crawford has scored 1,093 points to rank 11th on the TU scoring chart.

Tulsa returns home to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for the final time this season to face SMU (14-13, 8-8 AAC) on Saturday, March 21, with a tipoff time of 2:00 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+.