Tulsa Women Open AAC Tournament Play Monday vs. #9 East Carolina

GAME 32:
#1 TULSA (23-8, 13-5 AAC) vs. #9 EAST CAROLINA (17-13/9-9)
American Athletic Conference Tournament • Quarterfinal Round
Monday • March 11, 2024 • 12 p.m. (CT)
Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tula, Okla.

RADIO: 93.5 The Jet
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TV: ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa
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THE COACH:
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State '02), 3^rd year
Career Record: 57-32 (3 years)
School Record: same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
0    G     Katia Gallegos, 5-7, Sr-1L, El Paso, Texas, 6.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.8 apg
2    F      Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Jr-2L, Sapulpa, Okla., 20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg
5    G     Delanie Crawford, 5-11, Jr-2L, Piedmont, Okla., 19.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg
21 F      Hadley Periman, 6-2, So-1L, Tuttle, Okla., 2.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg
22 G     Mady Cartwright, 5-10, Fr-HS, Greenwood, Ark., 7.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Tulsa Gets No. 1 Seed as American Co-Champions
• After being picked 7^th in The American's preseason poll, Tulsa posted a 13-5 American Athletic Conference mark to tie North Texas for the regular season championship.
• Tulsa claimed the No. 1 seed in The American by virtue of a 79-74 home win over North Texas.
• Tulsa began the year 2-2 and then posted an 11-3 record the remainder of the season.
• During the year, Tulsa defeated first-place North Texas on Feb. 4 at home and went on the road Feb. 28 to defeat first-place Temple.

Honors – Poindexter Player of the Year, Crawford Most Improved Player
• Tulsa's dynamic junior duo of Temira Poindexter and Delanie Crawford were recognized for their play this year by American Athletic Conference coaches.
•   Poindexter was named the AAC's PLAYER OF THE YEAR and Crawford was named the AAC's MOST IMPROVED PLAYER.
• Poindexter was a first-team all-conference selection for the second consecutive season.
• Crawford was named to the AAC's second team this year.

The American's Player of the Year
•   Temira Poindexter was named the AAC's Player of the Year giving Tulsa it's first American Athletic Conference Player of the Year in the school's 10-year membership.
• She is just the second player in school history to be named the Conference Player of the Year in women's basketball … Jillian Robbins (2003-07) was the first as she was named the
     2006 Conference USA Player of the Year.
• In her career, Poindexter has racked up the honors, earning Player of the Year (2024), Freshman of the Year (2022), two-time first-team all-conference (2023, '24), all-freshman
     team (2022), Freshman of the Week nine times (2022), AAC Player of the Week three times (2023) and has been named to the AAC weekly honor roll 10 times (2021-24).

The American's Most Improved Player
• Delanie Crawford was picked by the league's coaches as the 2024 Most Improved Player.
• She was also named second-team all-conference, adding to her all-freshman team honor from 2022.
• Crawford has been named Player of the Week once this year and named to the weekly honor roll six times.
• Here's a comparison of Crawford's numbers, this year compared to last year…
         Category          2023-24                        2022-23
         Points               598 (19.3)                     334 (11.1)
         Rebounds         176 (5.7)                       144 (4.8)
         Assists              80 (2.6)                         90 (3.0)
         Steals               34 (1.1)                         24 (0.8)
         FG%                 .453 (198-437)              .462 (117-253)
         3PT%                .402 (86-214)                .368 (51-134)
         FT%                  .829 (116-140)              .778 (49-63)

The East Carolina Series
•    This would be the 30^th meeting between Tulsa and East Carolina.
•    Tulsa leads the series 16-13 and have won four of the last five games.
•    ECU won the only meeting this season by a 56-48 score at home on Feb. 1.
•    The two teams have met four times previously in conference tournament play, all coming in Conference USA.
•    The series in tournament games is even at 2-2.
•    The last time the teams played in a conference tournament was in the 2013 C-USA semifinals as Tulsa claimed a 72-59 win en route to the tournament title at the BOK Center
in Tulsa.

In Conference Tournaments
• This is the 27^th conference tournament that Tulsa will be a participant, playing in eight Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournaments (1998-2005), nine in Conference USA
     (2006-14) and its 10^th AAC Tournament (2015-present).
• Tulsa has an overall 17-24 record in conference postseason tournaments and is 5-9 in The American.
• Tulsa has won two conference tournaments, including the 2006 C-USA Tournament at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas and the 2013 C-USA Championship at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
•  In the 2006 tournament, Tulsa was the No. 1 seed, in the 2013 tournament Tulsa was the No. 6 seed.

23 Wins, 13 at Home
• Tulsa's 23 wins is the second-most in school history behind a 26-6 record in the 2005-06 season.
• Tulsa finished the home season 13-1 for the best home mark in school history
• The Hurricane has had two other one-loss seasons at home, including 12-1 in 2004-05 and 11-1 in 2005-06.
• Tulsa's 13 conference wins ties for the most in school history, tying Tulsa's 13 Conference USA wins (13-3) in 2005-06 … the 13 AAC wins is one better than the previous-high in the
    AAC when Tulsa won 12 games in the 2014-15 season.
• Tulsa has now posted three-straight winning seasons, the second-most in school history behind four straight winning seasons from 2001-06.

A Closer Look into Tulsa's Run to the AAC Regular Season Title
• In Tulsa's 13 AAC wins, the Hurricane has averaged 76.1 points (989), while holding the  opposition to 65.8 points (855) for a 10.3-win margin.
• Tulsa shot 44.2% from the field (341-771), 40.4% from 3-point range (141-349) and 72.2% from the free throw line (166-230) in its wins.
• In the five losses, Tulsa shot just 35.5% (97-273) from the field, 23.1% from 3-point range (28-121) and 58.8% from the free throw line (57-97).
• Tulsa had season-highs in AAC play of 55.4% from the field vs. SMU (3/2), 61.9% from 3-point range vs. SMU (3/2) and an .875 free throw percentage (7-8) vs. SMU, as well as an
.864 free throw percentage (19-22) at Temple (2/28).
•   In four AAC wins, Tulsa had to battle back from double-digit deficits – North Texas (10), UTSA (13), UAB (15) and South Florida (16).

Fastbreak Points
• This is only the second 20-win season in school history, and only the ninth winning seasons in 38 years of the basketball program.
• Tulsa has a five-game winning streak, the second-longest this year to a 7-win streak in
     December and early January.
• The Hurricane has made 10+ three-pointers in a total of 12 games this season, including five of the last six games and in 10 of 18 AAC games.
• Tulsa has reached over 17 wins for the third straight year, all under Angie Nelp … the previous two seasons Tulsa finished the season with 17 wins.
• Tulsa is 14-3 when leading after the first quarter and 17-4 when leading at halftime.
• Tulsa is 5-4 when trailing at halftime.
• The Hurricane is 9-0 when two players reach 20 points in the same game, including 8-0 when the two players are Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter.
• In Angie Nelp's three seasons, Tulsa has knocked down double-digit three-pointers in 36 of 89 games, including – nine in 2021-22, 15 in 2022-23 and 12 this year.
•   With a 57-32 coaching record, Nelp has won the most games of any Tulsa coach in their first three seasons.
• Tulsa's 57 wins in the last three years is the second-most in a three-year stretch, behind 64 wins from 2003-06.

Approaching the Most in School History
• Tulsa is approaching season-highs for points, field goals made and three-pointers made.
• In 31 gams, the Hurricane has scored 2,195 points, while making 772 field goals and 273 three-pointers.
•    Tulsa needs 50 points to break the school record of 2,245 points (2005-06), 21 field goals to break the mark of 793 (2005-06) and 22 three-pointers to break last year's high of 295
     (2022-23).

Poindexter Goes Over 600; Crawford Two Points Away from 600
• When Delanie Crawford scores her first two points in her next game, she will join Temira Poindexter as the first pair teammates to reach the 600-point plateau in school history.
•   Only two other players – Alison Curtin (692, 2002-03) and Taleya Mayberry (616, 2012-13) – hit the 600-point mark.
•   Poindexter became just the third player in school history to score 600+ points in her 30-point game at Temple (2/28).
• Her 644 points ranks second on the school's all-time chart behind Curtin.

More on Poindexter & Crawford Scoring Accolades
• Delanie Crawford and Temira Poindexter have reached some career milestones in just their junior seasons.
• Earlier this season, Poindexter reached 1,000 career points and is now ranked 5^th on the school's career scoring chart with 1,470 points.
•    Crawford joined Poindexter and became just the 13^th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points as she scored 29 points at Wichita State (2/17) … she now has 1,128 career
     points for ninth place on the school's career scoring chart.
• Both players have also scored 500+ points on the season … there now is a total of seven 500+ scorers in a single season in Tulsa history, as Poindexter and Crawford have become the fourth and fifth players to do so.
• They are the first pair of teammates to reach 500 points in the same season and with two more points by Crawford will be the first pair to reach 600 points as well.
• Against UTSA (2/14), Poindexter surpassed 500 points in a season and now has 644 points, while Crawford surpassed 500 points against UAB (2/21) and has 598 points.
• Only Jillian Robbins (3 years), Taleya Mayberry (1 year) and Allison Curtin (1 year) are the other players with a 500+ scoring season … Curtin and Mayberry surpassed 600+ points in their seasons.

Tulsa Women Open AAC Tournament Play Monday vs. #9 East Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Mady Cartwright

Delanie Crawford

Katia Gallegos

Hadley Periman

Temira Poindexter