Tulsa Falls 75-71 to East Carolina in AAC Quarterfinal

Monday, March 11

Fort Worth, Texas (Dickies Arena)

12:00 PM

Tulsa

23-9,13-5AAC

(9) East Carolina

18-13,9-9AAC

East Carolina

Tulsa

Photo by: American Athletic Conference

Tulsa Falls 75-71 to East Carolina in AAC Quarterfinal

3/11/2024 4:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

FORT WORTH, Texas — The first-seeded Tulsa women's basketball team fought to the very end but came up short to the No. 9 seed East Carolina Pirates, falling 75-71 in the quarterfinal round of the American Athletic Conference Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.

"It didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but I'm really proud of our team's fight," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "I'm proud of the way that we kept fighting in the face of some challenges in the game. It took us a minute to just find our rhythm once the game started, and we kind of dug ourselves a hole a little bit and felt like we were playing catchup most of the game. We just ran out of time there at the end. I thought Temira Poindexter had an excellent game. I thought she really displayed the way that she can score all over the floor. She scored around the rim, she got to the free-throw line, and she hit threes. I thought we got really good production from a couple of our bench players. Amira Brown and Elise Hill came in early off the bench and really gave us some good minutes."

Tulsa held the lead just once, which was lost in the first quarter at 5:11 in the first quarter.

Temira Poindexter led all scorers on the court with 31 points, her sixth game this season and in her career over the 30-point mark. Poindexter went 9-for-22 from the field, including 3-for-11 in three-pointers to go with 10-of-15 free throws made. Delanie Crawford was the next closest Tulsa player with 12 points and Katia Gallegos had nine.

Crawford was one of two Hurricane to reach 10 rebounds, good for her sixth career double-double and fifth this season. Hadley Periman was the other Tulsa player with 10 boards while Elise Hill boosted the defense with three steals.

Coordinating Tulsa's offense was Crawford, who recorded a team-high seven assists.

"We didn't shoot the ball as well as we normally do," said Nelp "I felt that we were always trying to kind of get that next shot, and we would make a push and we would get a run. Then, that next shot wouldn't fall, and then we maybe would give up a coverage here or there that allowed them to score. I'm really proud of our team to fight and be able to have the opportunity that they had this week as well, and I'm excited for learning and growing from this opportunity with our team. We didn't do everything well, there were some things that we can look back and we can see that we did well. We're going to look back and we're going to see things to learn and grow from this experience."

By the end of the game, ECU had made nearly half its shots (27-55), which included only 1-of-9 three-pointers to go with 20-of-26 free throws made at the line. Tulsa shot 36 percent (24-67) from the field, 26 percent in threes (9-35) and 67 percent in shots at the stripe (14-21).

The Pirates' Danae McNeal, who was tabbed The American Defensive Player of the Year, had a double-double as she led ECU with 29 points and 10 steals, a tournament record. Amiya Joyner also had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa scored first at 9:30 with a layup in the paint by Hadley Periman and would move ahead with a Temira Poindexter free throw and a three-pointer to take a 6-2 lead to open the quarter.

East Carolina responded with a 13-0 run for 4:06 until Amira Brown sank a corner three to end Tulsa's scoring drought and ignite a scoring run of 9-0 to tie it up at 15-15 with 35 seconds left in the quarter. An ECU free throw and a two-point jumper by Danae McNeal made it an 18-15 game heading into the second quarter.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Elise Hill was the first to score in the second quarter with a trey in the corner to even up the game again at 18-18. Hill would follow up with a steal and fastbreak layup.

Amira Brown got in on the sharpshooting action with a three-ball of her own, starting a scoring run of 6-0 and giving the Hurricane the lead at 26-24 before the media timeout.

The Pirates would go 5-for-7 from the field to over the lead again at 28-26. From there, ECU would hold the lead as Tulsa would go 1-for-7 shooting with no field goals in the last three minutes. The Pirates led 36-29 at the half.

In the first half, ECU had not made a three-pointer and was 16-of-32 from inside the arc, while five of Tulsa's 10 field goals were threes.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Katia Gallegos opened third-quarter scoring with a layup assisted by Amira Brown.

East Carolina led by as much as 11 at 48-37 before Tulsa went 4-for-5 from the field, capped off by a fourth steal by Elise Hill to set up Delanie Crawford for her first made three-pointer of the game to force a Pirate timeout.

Tulsa's defense began powering up as the Pirates were held without a field goal for nearly four minutes and ended at 2:34 off a jumper from Taliyah Wyche to put ECU back up by six (51-45). It would be the last field goal by either team in the quarter as East Carolina finished the period on top 52-46.

Temira Poindexter shot 3-for-6 in the third quarter and ended the frame with eight points.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
It was a game of fouls and free throws to open the final quarter. Tulsa began the period with a pair of Temira Poindexter free throws that would be answered back with a jump shot in the arc by the Pirates.

TU got in the bonus early as ECU committed their fifth foul with 7:25 still on the board.

Poindexter cut the deficit to just one with her third three-pointer of the game before the Pirate responded with another jumper in the paint, making it a 60-57 game with 5:42 on the clock.

Poindexter had nine points in the quarter before the media break, where East Carolina continued to hold a three-point lead of 64-61.

Stuck at 66-63, both teams were scoreless for over two minutes until the Pirates connected on 3-of-3 free throws to take a six-point lead at 69-63 with just 36 seconds left.

Katia Gallegos nailed a three-pointer at 00:13 to make it 71-66, but ECU free throws kept Tulsa at bay. Poindexter surpassed 30 points at the 10-second mark with a pair of free throws and ended the game with 31. The game ended in an East Carolina victory, 75-71, as Tulsa lost the lead at 5:11 in the first quarter and never got it back for the duration of the game.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa fell to 23-9 on the season.

• The loss snapped a five-game Tulsa winning streak.

• Tulsa is now 0-7 in the AAC quarterfinal round.

• This was the second time in the 11 years of the AAC tournament and the second straight year that the No. 1 seed has lost in the quarterfinal round.

• Tulsa trailed at halftime for the 10th time this season and fell to 5-5 in those games.

• In AAC play, Tulsa's 7-point halftime deficit tied the game at Rice for the most points that Tulsa trailed at halftime in league play.

• Junior Temira Poindexter has now scored double-figures in all 32 games this year and for the 77th time in 90 career games.

• Poindexter has now scored double-digits in her last 36 games dating back to last season.

• With 31 points it was Poindexter's sixth 30+ scoring game this year and for her career.

• Poindexter's 10 first-half points marked the 17th time this season that she scored in double-figures in the first half.

• Poindexter had her 15th game this year with 3 or more three-pointers made as she knocked down 3-of-8 treys.

• Junior Delanie Crawford had her 30th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 56th of her career.

• It was Crawford's sixth career double-double and fifth this season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

• Sophomore Hadley Periman had her sixth double-digit rebounding game this year and in her career with 10 boards.

• It marked the 17th time this year that Periman has led Tulsa in rebounding, tying Crawford for the team lead.

Tulsa's season is not over as the Hurricane has secured a bid to the brand new Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) for being a regular season conference champion and holding the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament. The 32-team postseason tournament, run by the NCAA, will announce seedings and selections following the selection show for March Madness on Sunday, March 17 at 6 p.m.