Tulsa, Georgetown Square Off in WBIT Second Round Sunday at the Reynolds Center

Sunday, March 24

2:00 PM

Tulsa

Georgetown

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa, Georgetown Square Off in WBIT Second Round Sunday at the Reynolds Center

3/23/2024 2:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

GAME 34:
TULSA (24-9, 13-5 AAC) vs. GEORGETOWN (23-11, 9-9 Big East)
Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT) • Second Round
Sunday • March 24, 2024 • 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tula, Okla.

TICKETS: Click Here
RADIO: 93.5 The Jet
LIVE STATS: Click Here
TV: ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa I Georgetown
WBIT DIGITAL PROGRAM: Click Here

THE COACHES:
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State '02), 3^rd year
Career Record: 58-33 (3 years)
School Record: same

Georgetown: Darnell Haney (FAMU '04)
Career Record: 87-86 (6 years)
School Record: 23-11 (1 year)

Tulsa Probable Starters
0    G     Katia Gallegos, 5-7, Sr-1L, El Paso, Texas, 6.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.8 apg
2    F      Temira Poindexter, 6-1, Jr-2L, Sapulpa, Okla., 21.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg
5    G     Delanie Crawford, 5-11, Jr-2L, Piedmont, Okla., 19.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg
21 F      Hadley Periman, 6-2, So-1L, Tuttle, Okla., 2.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg
22 G     Mady Cartwright, 5-10, Fr-HS, Greenwood, Ark., 6.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Georgetown Probable Starters
1    G     Kelsey Ransom, 5-10, Sr., South River, N.J., 14.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 4.2 apg
3    G     Victoria Rivera, 6-0, So., Pasadena, Texas, 6.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg
4    G     Alex Cowan, 5-7, Gr., Bowie, Md., 5.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg
21 C      Ariel Jenkins, 6-3, Jr., Piscataway, N.J., 3.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg
33 F      Graceann Bennett, 6-3, Gr., Lake George, N.Y., 9.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg

Tulsa Advances in WBIT
•    Tulsa built a 17-point first-quarter lead and cruised to an 80-62 victory over Arkansas in a WBIT first-round game Thursday.
•    The AAC's Player of the Year Temira Poindexter led Tulsa in scoring with 21 points, while freshman Elise Hill scored a career-high 18 points and Delanie Crawford added 17.
•    In the first half, the Hurricane played all but the first 1:16 of the second quarter with a lead of over 20 points with the biggest margin of 28 points
•     In the second half, Tulsa held a 20+ lead for all but the final 0:03 of the third period when Arkansas cut its deficit to 18 points to end the period … In the final frame, Tulsa led by as many as 24 points, while the closest Arkansas would get was the final 18-point margin.

Facing Georgetown
•       This is the first meeting between Tulsa and Georgetown in the sport of basketball … neither the women's nor men's teams have faced each other before.
•       The Hoyas are coming off a 64-56 road win over Washington in the WBIT first round.
•       Georgetown finished the Big East Conference season with a 9-9 record, a league that saw   nine teams make postseason play, including four in the WBIT.

Poindexter Becomes Single-Season Scoring Leader; Needs Four More for 700
•    Temira Poindexter became the school's all-time single season scoring leader with 21 points against Arkansas.
•    She entered the game 17 points behind leader Allison Curtin's (2002-03, 30 games) 692 points.
•    Poindexter now has 696 points in 33 games.
•    Fellow junior Delanie Crawford has notched 627 points this season and moved up to third-place on the single-season chart, surpassing Taleya Mayberry's (2006-07, 33 games) total of 616 points.
•    Poindexter reached 600 points in her 30-point game at Temple (2/28), while Crawford hit 600 in the AAC quarterfinals against East Carolina (3/11).

Tulsa in Postseason for Seventh TIme
•    Tulsa is making its seventh postseason appearance in school history and now has an overall 4-6 record.
•    Tulsa earned the WBIT bid by winning the American Athletic Conference regular season championship.
•    In the postseason, Tulsa has played in two NCAA Tournaments (2006, 2013), four times in the WNIT (2004, 2005, 2015 and 2022) and now the WBIT.
•    Tulsa is 1-2 in NCAA play, 1-0 in WBIT and 2-4 in the WNIT.
•    In NCAA play, Tulsa defeated 5-seed NC State 71-61 in its first-ever NCAA Tournament game, but in second round action lost to host and #4-seed DePaul 71-67 in 2006.
•    In WNIT action, Tulsa's first postseason action was against Memphis, falling 66-64 on the road in 2004 … in remaining WNIT play, Tulsa defeated Missouri State (2015) and North Texas (2022), and fell to Texas A&M (2005), Eastern Michigan (2015) and Wyoming (2022).
•    This is Tulsa's second postseason appearance under Angie Nelp, as she led the Hurricane to the WNIT in her first season (2021-22) and claimed a first-round. win over North Texas (75-62) before falling in three OTs at Wyoming (97-90)

Tulsa Captures Regular Season AAC Championship
•       After being picked 7^th in the American' Athletic Conference preseason poll, Tulsa posted a 13-5 AAC mark and tied North Texas for the regular season championship.
•       Tulsa claimed the No. 1 seed in The American's postseason tournament by virtue of a 79-74 home win over North Texas, however, Tulsa fell in the quarterfinal round 75-71 to defending AAC postseason champion East Carolina.
•       Tulsa began the year 2-2 and then posted an 11-3 record the remainder of the league 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.

Tulsa's Poindexter & Crawford Get Top AAC Honors
•    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 also named to the AAC's second team this year.

24 Wins, 14 at Home
•    Tulsa's 23 wins is the second-most in school history behind a 26-6 record in the 2005-06 season.
•    Tulsa has posted a 14-1 home record for the top home mark in school history
•    The Hurricane has two previous one-loss seasons at home, including 12-1 in 2004-05 and11-1 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.

The American's Player of the Year
•    Temira Poindexter was named the AAC's Player of the Year giving Tulsa its 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 was 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 season compared to last year…
      Category                     2023-24                  2022-23
      Points                          627 (19.0)                334 (11.1)
      Rebounds                    192 (5.8)                 144 (4.8)
      Assists                         88 (2.7)                   90 (3.0)
      Steals                          35 (1.1)                   24 (0.8)
      FG%                            .437 (207-474)         .462 (117-253)
      3PT%                           .391 (91-233)           .368 (51-134)
      FT%                             .836 (122-146)         .778 (49-63)
      10+ pt games               31                          18
      20+ pt games               14                          1
      Double-Doubles            5                            1
      10+ Rebounds              5                            1

Fastbreak Points
• This is only the second 20-win season in school history, and only the ninth winning seasons in 39 years of the basketball program.
•   The Hurricane has made 10+ three-pointers in a total of 13 games this season, including six of the last eight games and in 10 of 18 AAC regular season 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 15-3 when leading after the first quarter and 18-4 when leading at halftime.
• Tulsa is 5-5 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 37 of 91 games, including – nine in 2021-22, 15 in 2022-23 and 12 this year.
•   With a 58-33 coaching record, Nelp has won the most games of any Tulsa coach in their first three seasons.
• Tulsa's 58 wins in the last three years is the second-most in a three-year stretch, behind 64 wins from 2003-06.

A Closer Look into Tulsa's Run to the AAC Regular Season Title
•    In Tulsa's 13 AAC wins, the Hurricane 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).

Most in School History
•    Tulsa has set season-highs for points and field goals made this year.
•    In 33 games, the Hurricane has scored 2,346 points and made 824 field goals, breaking the previous marks of 2,245 points (2005-06) and 793 field goals (2005-06) in 32 games.
•    With 294 three-pointers on the year, Tulsa needs just one more to tie the previous record of 295 treys, which was set last year in 30 games.

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 4^th on the school's career scoring chart with 1,522 points … she is nine points shy of third place.
•     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 1,157 career points for ninth place on the school's career scoring chart.
•     Both players have also scored 600+ points, making them only the third and fourth players in school history to do so.
•     They are the first pair of teammates and also only the fourth and fifth players to score over 500+ points in a single season, which has been done a total of seven times.
•    Against UTSA (2/14), Poindexter surpassed 500 points, while Crawford surpassed 500 points against UAB (2/21).
•    Only Jillian Robbins (3 years), Taleya Mayberry (1 year) and Allison Curtin (1 year) are the other players with a 500+ scoring season

Poindexter Has AAC Best Six 30+ Scoring Games
•    Temira Poindexter's six 30+ scoring games this year is the most in the AAC.
•    Poindexter had her sixth 30+ game with 31 points in the AAC quarterfinals against East Carolina (3/11/24).
•    In four of the last 10 games Poindexter has reached the 30-point plateau.
•    Poindexter had a career-high 33 points at Rice (2/10) for her third career 30+ scoring game.
•    Her first 30-point game came in the second game of the year vs. New Orleans (11/10).

Crawford Nets Three 30+ Games
•    Delanie Crawford has scored 30 points in three games this year for the third-most in The American.
•    She opened the season with a career-high 35 points at Lindenwood.
•    Crawford tallied 31 points in a win over North Texas.
•   Against South Florida, Crawford totaled 30 points … she exploded in the second half for 25 of Tulsa's 40 points, after limited to five points in seven minutes in foul-troubled first half.

Freshman Hill's Production Goes Up
•    Freshman Elise Hill, from local Holland Hall High School, has taken advantage of more playing time over the last six games.
•    In the first 24 games in which she saw action, Hill averaged just 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds in just 7.2 minutes of playing time.
•    Over the last six contests, Hill has averaged 8.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.7 minutes of  playing time … she scored a career-high 18 points against Arkansas on 6-of-12 from the  field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the free throw line,
•      Hill is shooting .457 (16-35) from the field, 8-16 (.500) from three-point range and .846 from the free throw line (11-13), whereas she had a .288 field goal percentage, .192 free throw percentage in her first 24 games played.

The Comebacks
•      In 18 of Tulsa's 24 wins, the Hurricane trailed at one point or another in those games.
•      Tulsa had double-figure deficits in seven of those games, all wins – UCA, Florida, Southeastern Louisiana, North Texas, UTSA, UAB and South Florida – and five of those came in the 4^th quarter.
•      In two games against UAB and South Florida, Tulsa had its highest double-digit deficits … 15 against UAB and 16 against USF, both of those deficits coming in the second quarter
•      Against UAB, Tulsa was down by a season-high 15 points in the 2^nd quarter against UAB, only to come back and build a 15-point lead of its own in the final stanza.
•      Tulsa trailed in all these games at one point (with the largest deficits listed) – Lindenwood (2 pts, 3^rd QTR), Northwestern State (2 pts, 1^st QTR), UAPB (10 pts, 3^rd QTR), Clemson (12 pts, 2^nd QTR), UCA (8 pts, 3^rd QTR), Florida (6 pts, 4^th QTR), Texas Tech (2 pts, 1^st QTR), Southeastern Louisiana (10 pts, 3^rd QTR), Memphis (9 pts, 2^nd QTR), FAU (5 pts, 3^rd QTR), Charlotte (2 pts, 3^rd QTR), North Texas (10 pts, 4^th QTR), UTSA (13 pts, 4^th QTR), UAB (15 pts, 2^nd QTR), South Florida (16 pts, 2^nd QTR), Temple (9 pts, 2^nd QTR), SMU (1 pt, 1^st QTR) and Tulane (8 pts, 1^st QTR).