Tulsa
23-8,13-5AAC
Tulane
10-19,3-15AAC
TULSA WOMEN WIN AAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE
3/5/2024 9:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS, La. — History was made in New Orleans as The University of Tulsa women's basketball team has claimed a share of the 2023-24 American Athletic Conference's regular season title as well as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament with a 61-56 victory Tuesday over the Tulane Green Wave (10-19, 3-15 AAC) in the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Golden Hurricane now has an overall 23-8 record and a first-place mark of 13-5 in the AAC. It is Tulsa's first regular season conference championship since the 2005-06 season (18 years) and Tulsa's 13 conference wins ties the most in school history, also coming in the 2005-06 season when TU posted a 13-3 record.
With tiebreakers over North Texas and Temple, Tulsa locked up the No. 1 seed at next week's AAC Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Tulsa's first game will be on Monday, March 11, at noon (CT) against the winner of Memphis-East Carolina in the quarterfinal round.
Taking the other share of the regular season title was North Texas, who also finished 13-5. Temple (12-5) will have a chance to claim a piece of the title Wednesday when the Owls host Florida Atlantic.
"It goes without saying just how proud of our players we are," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "We knew this wasn't going to be an easy game, we knew that Tulane was going to fight back and we knew that this was going to be a tough game on the road for our team. I cannot just say how proud I am of our heart and our toughness down the stretch. Not everything went our way offensively. We missed some shots. We had to get those defensive stops. We had to get those rebounds. So many 50/50 balls that we dove on there at the end of the game. I'm just so proud of our total team effort."
It was indeed a team effort as Tulsa's offense went 32 percent from the field (22-68), 28 percent in three-pointers (10-35) and 88 percent in free throws (7-8) while stealing the ball nine times and stuffing seven Green Wave shots.
Leading the Hurricane in scoring for the 17th time this season was Temira Poindexter, who notched 19 points on the night. Both she and Delanie Crawford (16 points) each knocked away six field goals and three free throws with Poindexter adding 4-of-10 treys. Katia Gallegos produced 11 points off 4-of-9 buckets from the field.
Three TU players coordinated the offensive attack with three assists each, including Katia Gallegos, Mady Cartwright, Hadley Periman, Jessika Evans.
Conversely, three different Hurricane led a stout defensive effort in the win. Jessika Evans led the way with eight rebounds (2 offensive; 6 defensive), while Hadley Periman added four blocks and Amira Brown three steals. It was Evans' second time this season leading the Hurricane in boards, Periman's 14th game with a team-high in rejections and Brown's sixth contest atop the box score in steals.
Of Tulane's 56 points, 42 came from Irina Parau (16 points), Kyren Whittington (14 points) and Hannah Pratt (12 points). Parau had a double-double on the night as she produced a floor-high 14 rebounds, 12 of which were on defense.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
It was a shaky start for the Hurricane to open the game. Tulsa scored the first points of the game off a layup from Mady Cartwright. Tulane would score the next 10 points before Cartwright would snap Tulsa's drought with a fastbreak layup coming off a steal. Katia Gallegos cut the deficit to three when she sank a three-pointer right before the media break.
Down 12-9, both teams entered a scoring drought that would last until the waning seconds of the quarter, when Hadley Periman scored a trey from the corner to make it a 12-12 game heading into the second period.
Both Tulsa and Tulane finished the quarter 5-of-16 from the field.
IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Tulsa's first three scores of the second quarter were three-pointers as the Hurricane lead by as much as four at 21-17 before the Green Wave made it a 21-20 game with a trey from Hannah Pratt before the media timeout.
A Tulane layup followed by a Tulsa three from Temira Poindexter and a Green Wave trey tied it up at 27-27 at 2:43. From there, consecutive layups from the Hurricane and two free throws after a technical by Tulane's Amira Mabry closed out the half for Tulsa, 33-27.
Temira Poindexter scored 10 points in the quarter off 3-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-2 three-pointers made and two free throws.
IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Tulane scored the first points of the second half with a layup from Kyren Whittington. Tulsa responded with a 9-0 scoring run to force a full Green Wave timeout at 7:54.
A three-pointer by Delanie Crawford at 6:48 gave Tulsa its biggest lead of the game at 47-31. Tulsa maintained the 16-point lead through a 49-33 scoreboard.
Tulsa made two of its last 10 shots in the quarter and missed the last four as Tulane enjoyed a 7-0 run to close out the quarter. The Hurricane led 53-45 heading into the fourth and final frame.
Delanie Crawford contributed 10 points resulting from 4-of-8 baskets from the field that included a trey and one free throw.
IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Tulane extended its scoring run to 11 points with a pair of layups to open the quarter, forcing a Tulsa timeout. Delanie Crawford snapped the drought at 7:37 with a contested layup, putting the Hurricane ahead 55-49.
Another Hurricane scoring drought that lasted nearly three minutes allowed the Green Wave to fight back to only a two-point deficit at 55-53. Tulsa would hold the lead despite the scoring struggle as Temira Poindexter would sink her fourth three-pointer of the game to go back up by five.
Although Tulane snuck back to within three points at 59-56 with 2:42 left, Tulsa never faltered and held the advantage for the rest of the game, due in part to clutch free throws in the closing seconds by Delanie Crawford with 12 second left. The Hurricane finished on top 61-56 to end the regular season atop the American Athletic Conference standings.
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa finishes the regular season with a 23-8 record on the season and a first-place mark of 13-5 in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa clinched the AAC's No. 1 seed for the conference championship.
• It is Tulsa's first regular season conference championship since the 2005-06 season.
• Tulsa's 13 conference wins ties for the most in school history, tying the 2005-06 season when Tulsa posted a 13-3 league record.
• With the win, Tulsa extended its winning streak to five games.
• Tulsa snapped a nine-game losing streak in New Orleans against the Green Wave.
• With 19 points, junior Temira Poindexter scored in double-figures for the 31st game this year and for the 76th time in 89 career games.
• Poindexter's 10 first-half points marked the 16th time this season that she scored in double-figures in the first half.
• Poindexter has now scored double-digits in her last 35 games dating back to last season.
• Poindexter had her 15th game this year with 3 or more three-pointers made as she knocked down 4-of-10 treys.
• Junior Delanie Crawford scored 16 points after scoring just two points in the first half.
• Crawford had her 29th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 55th of her career.
• It was Crawford's 22nd consecutive double-digit game.
• Crawford is now two points away from 600 points on the season with 598 points thru 31 games this year.
• Senior Jessika Evans had a season-high eight rebounds, bettering her previous season-high of six boards.
• Senior Katia Gallegos had her second straight double-figure scoring game and seventh double-figure scoring game of the year.
• With four blocks, sophomore Hadley Periman had her 13th game with two or more blocks and her fourth game with 4+ blocks this season.
• Poindexter has now tallied 1,470 career points to rank 5th in school history and Crawford has scored 1,128 points to rank ninth on the TU scoring chart.
Up next for Tulsa is the American Athletic Conference Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. The Hurricane begins action at noon (CT) Monday, March 11, against the winner of ECU-Memphis in the Dickies Arena. 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+.
