Golden Hurricane Women to Face Rice in Houston

GAME 21:
Tulsa (10-10, 4-4 AAC) vs. Rice (11-9, 4-4 AAC)
7:00 p.m. CT - Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Tudor Fieldhouse (5,208) • Houston, Texas

RADIO: 1300 AM/93.5 FM The Patriot
LIVE STATS: Rice SideArm Stats
TV: ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa
GAME NOTES: Rice
AAC Release: Click Here

THE COACHES:
Tulsa: Angie Nelp (Colorado State '02), 4^th year
Career Record: 69-44
School Record: Same

Rice: Lindsay Edmonds (App State '07), 4^th year
Career Record: 67-46
School Record: Same

Tulsa's Probable Starters
4          F          Lexie Foutch, 6-3, Sr-3L, Fort Gibson, Okla., 1.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg
5          G         Delanie Crawford, 5-11, Sr-3L, Piedmont, Okla., 17.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg
21        G/F      Hadley Periman, 6-2, Jr-2L, Tuttle, Okla., 7.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.6 apg
22        G         Mady Cartwright, 5-10, So-1L, Greenwood, Ark., 10.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg
24        G         Elise Hill, 5-7, So-1L, Tulsa, Okla., 10.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.4 apg

Rice's Probable Starters
1          F          Malia Fisher, 6-2, Sr, Dacula, Ga., 12.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg
11        G         Dominique Ennis, 5-9, Jr, Fort Erie, Ontario, 11.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg
24        G         Aniah Alexis, 6-1, Fr, Waller, Texas, 3.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg
35        C          Sussy Ngulefac, 6-4, Sr, Lilburn, Ga., 8.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg
55        G         Victoria Flores, 5-7, So, West Dallas, Texas., 9.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg

The Series with Rice

Saturday will be the 41st meeting in the long history between Tulsa and Rice.
The two teams were conference rivals in the WAC from 1996-05 and Conference USA from 2005-14. The series took a 10-year break when TU left C-USA for The American in 2014, which Rice finally joined in July of 2023.
Rice currently leads the series 26-14.
Tulsa has won three of the last five matchups. Last year, the squads split games with the home team earning the victory.
The last five games against Rice:

            02/10/2024.....Houston, Texas............L, 66-78
            01/24/2024.....Tulsa, Okla...................W, 70-65
            02/12/2014.....Tulsa, Okla...................L, 59-75
            03/13/2013.....Tulsa, Okla...................W, 74-52*
            02/17/2013.....Tulsa, Okla...................W, 49-45

            *C-USA Tournament First Round

Facing the Owls from Houston

Rice and Tulsa are tied for seventh in AAC standings with a 4-4 record. The Owls an extra win at 11-9 overall.
The Owls' best conference win so far came against Tulane in New Orleans, taking down the fifth-place Green Wave 72-64.
Rice was voted to finish second this season in the AAC Preseason Coaches' Poll after winning the conference tournament last season as the No. 9 seed.
Three Owls average double-figure scoring in conference play with Dominique Ennis leading 13.5 per game.
Aniah Alexis won the Dec. 16 AAC Freshman of the Week award after scoring seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, while dishing out four assists and coming away with four steals and a block on defense.
Rice has the third-best 3-point shooting defense, holding opponents to .290 from deep this season.

Dynamic Crawford Can Do It All

It should come to no surprise that returning All-American Delanie Crawford continues to be a scoring leader in the AAC with her 17.2 points-per-game mark, the second-best effort in the league.
The multi-level scorer has earned double-digit points in all but three games, peaking with 36 against East Carolina (12/29) in the conference opener.
She enjoyed her 22nd career 20+ scoring game with 21 points at Temple (1/11)
This season, Crawford is averaging 6.3 FG, 2.6 3PT and 2.2 FT per game.
She's shooting .401 from the field (125-312), .319 in threes (51-160) and .915 at the charity stripe (43-47).
Crawford is also first in the AAC for field goal attempts (312) and 3-point attempts (160), second for field goals (125), total points (344) and points per game (17.2), third for threes per game (2.55) and fourth for total treys (51).
Her 160 total 3-point attempts are the fourth-most in Division I.
She has also been one of Tulsa's most prominent rebounders and assisters. Crawford is second on the team with 111 total rebounds, ranking only behind teammate Hadley Periman (8.4 rpg) with a 5.6 average per game.
Crawford also has the third-most assists on the team with 41 (2.1 apg).
She earned her first AAC Weekly Honorable Mention nod this season after earning a double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds vs. Chicago State. She picked up her second one after averaging 21.5 points across the two West Palm Beach Classic games (Montana and Tennessee), including tying her then-season-high of 26 points in the win over Montana (12/20).
Crawford dropped 36 points on East Carolina (12/29) on a 14-20 clip from the field, 3-7 from three and 5-5 at the line, earning her second career AAC Player of the Week award and first of the season.
Crawford's led Tulsa in scoring 13 times this season and paced the Hurricane in steals seven times, rebounds five times and assists four times.

Tidbits on the TCU Transfer Paige Bradley

Redshirt junior Paige Bradley, an offseason transfer from TCU, has made an immediate impact for the Hurricane with 17 starts in 18 games played.
She came to Tulsa with only three double-digit scoring games in her career. She has six this season.
Bradley is fourth on TU for rebounds (81) and boards per contest (4.5).
Bradley averages 7.9 points, the Hurricane's fourth-best mark.
Bradley had her first double-figure scoring game for Tulsa against Marshall (11/23) in the WBCA Showcase. She also brought down a career-high 10 rebounds, helping her achieve her first career double-double.
The Hurricane is 7-3 when Bradley records three or more field goals.
Bradley took home her first career AAC Weekly Honorable Mention after averaging 16.0 points and 8.0 boards in wins over San Jose State (12/10) and Kansas City (12/15).
She missed the last two games for TU for a medical decision.

Periman Scores, Boards and Blocks

Junior guard/forward Hadley Periman's game has grown tremendously, averaging 3.0 ppg/7.2 rpg/1.6 apg a year ago to 7.7 ppg/8.4 rpg/2.4 apg today.
Despite missing three nonconference games with injury, Periman is still the Hurricane's top rebounder with 142 boards at a 8.4 rate per game.
She has 529 career rebounds with a career rate of 6.45 per game, marking the seventh-best average among all active players in the AAC.
Only two players in the league - ECU's Amiya Joyner (777) and South Florida's Carla Brito (565) have more career boards than Periman.
Periman also blocks the ball better than everyone in the conference this season with a league-highs of 30 rejections at 1.76 per contest.
She ranks seventh in TU history with 111 career rejections.
Her 17 rebounds against FAU (1/15) is tied for the third-most in a game by an AAC player so far this season.
Periman has led TU in rebounding 10 times, all in the last 13 games. She's also led the Hurricane in blocking in 14 games this season.
She has four double-doubles this season with three of them occurring in the last six games. Tulsa is 3-1 when Periman records a double-double.
Four double-doubles is the sixth-most among all AAC players.
Periman came within two assists shy of a triple-double against Charlotte (1/8), finishing with 16 points, 15 boards, eight assists, three assists and two blocks, leading TU in the latter four categories.

Rolling Hill Continues to Succeed on the Floor

Sophomore guard Elise Hill has scored in double-figures in 12 of 20 games this season and in 14 of her last 23 games for the Hurricane dating back to the end of her freshman season last year.
She has scored 10 points once this year, 12 points on four occasions, 13 points against Marshall (11/23), 14 against Memphis (1/25), 15 against the league's toughest defense in UTSA (1/4), 16 against FAU (1/15), 18 against Grambling (12/5) and a career-best 22 at North Texas (1/1).
Hill called her own number in the waning seconds of the season-opener against UAPB, sinking the game-winning 3-pointer with less than a second to go to seal the 63-60 win.
She went 8-of-14 with six treys for 22 points vs. UNT. It was the seventh-most threes in a game by a TU player.
She has also recorded 5+ assists four times this season and has 47 assists (2.4 apg) so far, tied with Kristol Ayson for the most for Tulsa.
Hill also thrives on defense, using her quickness and speed to steal the ball 28 times this season.
Hill stole the ball from ECU (12/29) eight times for Tulsa's second-highest effort in history, spanning both nonconference and conference play.
She grabbed her first career AAC Weekly Honorable Mention award after she scored a team-leading 18 points with five assists and six rebounds in the win over Grambling (12/5).
Hill has led Tulsa in points and assists in five games each this year.

Cartwright the Swiss Army Knife

Mady Cartwright, a sophomore guard, shines on both offense and defense for the Hurricane.
She is one of three players to start every game this season, along with Delanie Crawford and Elise Hill.
Cartwright is fifth in the American Athletic Conference with a .733 free throw percentage (63-86).
Cartwright shot a perfect 8-8 game at the line against Marshall (11/23) for TU's 14th all-time perfect free throw game of over eight attempts.
She has reached double-digit scoring in nine games this season.
On offense, Cartwright leads the team for free throws (63) and free throw attempts (86) and ranks third for points (199) and scoring average (10.0).
On the defensive end, Cartwright is third on the team for total boards (87) and fourth for rebounds per game (4.4) and steals (23).
Cartwright had her first career double-double against San Jose State (12/10) with 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Spartans.
She had her first 20+ point game against Charlotte (1/8) with 21 points.
Tulsa is 4-2 this season when Cartwright steals the ball two or more times in a game and 6-3 when assisting on three or more field goals.

Ayson Adds Speed and Versatility

Kristol Ayson, a senior transfer from Jacksonville State and Arizona Western, has played in all 20 games, averaging 20.6 minutes per game off the bench.
She's third on TU with 27 steals at 1.4 per contest.
She is tied for first on the Hurricane in assists with 47 total for 2.3 per game.
Ayson has hit three or more assists in 11 games, with a season-best of five assists against San Jose State (12/10).
Tulsa is 7-4 when she records three or more assists in a game.
She had a 13-point game against Oral Roberts for her first and only double-figure scoring game with the Hurricane so far.
Ayson has led TU in steals five times and assists four times this year.
She came to Tulsa after leading Jax State with 8.1 points, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game while securing 3.7 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per contest.
At Arizona Western, a junior college, Ayson recorded three double-doubles and 34 double-digits scoring games across two seasons. She was an NJCAA All-American Honorable Mention as a sophomore.

Nelp Needs One More Win to Reach 70

Head Coach Angie Nelp is currently 69-44 after 20 games in her fourth season.
She won her 60th career game with a 63-60 win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener on Nov. 6.
No previous Tulsa coach had reached 50 wins in their first three seasons … only three other Tulsa head coaches won more than 60 games in their careers.
Nelp needs four wins to pass Charlene Thomas-Swinson's (2005-11) 72 wins for third on the all-time TU coach wins list.

Home Court Advantage

The Hurricane has been deadly in the Donald W. Reynolds Center under fourth-year head coach Angie Nelp.
TU is 22-5 at home since the start of last season, 33-9 since 2022-23 and 41-14 since Nelp joined the program.
2024-25: TU is 7-3 at home so far this season.
2023-24: The Hurricane enjoyed their winningest home record in program history, going 15-2 under the lights of the Reynolds Center, including 2-1 in postseason play in the WBIT.
2022-23: Tulsa went 11-4 and started the home slate 9-0.
2021-22: The Hurricane enjoyed its first winning home record in three years at 8-5 under Nelp in her first season.

Home, Road, Neutral

Tulsa has played 20 games with 11 at home, five on the road and four neutral site games … here's a look at the comparative stats:

Site                  FG                                3Pts                 FT                    REB                  Pts
Home (11)       .406 (283-697)             .301 (81-269) .697 (138-198) 41.8 (460)       71.4 (785)
Road (5)          .423 (129-305)             .360 (49-136) .500 (33-66)    36.6 (183)       68.0 (340)
Neutral (4)      .360 (87-242)             .243 (27-111) .703 (52-74)    34.5 (138)       63.3 (253)
Totals (20)       .401 (499-1244)          .304 (157-516) .660 (223-338) 39.1 (781)       68.9 (1378)
Opp. Totals     .385 (484-1257)          .332 (132-397) .649 (246-379) 40.8 (816)       67.3 (1346)

Fun Facts About Player Names

Tulsa is one of two teams in the country (Sacramento State) to have four players with a last name that starts with the letter "A": Tobi Ademuwagon, Brooklyn Alexander, Kennedi Alexander and Kristol Ayson.
TU is also the only team in the country with over half the roster having last names starting in the letter A-C range. This list includes Tobi Ademuwagon, Brooklyn Alexander, Kennedi Alexander, Kristol Ayson, Paige Bradley, Mady Cartwright, Jade Clack and Delanie Crawford.

Crawford and Periman Climbing the Career Charts

Delanie Crawford through 112 career games in four seasons with the Hurricane stars in multiple top 10 career charts in program history.
She ranks first in three-pointers made with 235, passing Kelsee Grovey's (2012-16) record 233 made threes against UTSA (1/22)
Crawford is fourth in career points (1,539), just 21 shy of Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 1,560 points.
Crawford is also sixth in field goals made (531).
Crawford's ninth in free throw percentage (.816) and free throws made (242).
Finally, Crawford is 10th all-time in assists with 281. She needs four more to pass Grovey's 284 assists for ninth.
Junior Hadley Periman has played 82 games for Tulsa. She ranks seventh in TU history with 111 blocks, needing 10 more to pass Megan Moody's (2002-06) 120 rejections for sixth.

Going for 20

Tulsa players have combined for nine 20+ point scoring efforts this year.
Delanie Crawford currently has six under her belt with Mady Cartwright, Elise Hill and Hadley Periman each having one.
Tulsa is 5-3 when a player scores over 20 points.
There's been one game where two players scored over 20 in the same game: North Texas (1/1) with Delanie Crawford and Elise Hill each scoring 22.
Crawford has recorded 22 20+ scoring games while Cartwright, Hill and Periman each have one so far in their careers, all in this season.

Going for 30

Tulsa has had a 30+ scorer once this season.
Delanie Crawford collected a career-high 36 points against ECU (12/29) off 14-20 FG, 3-7 3PT and 5-5 FT. It was her fourth career 30+ scoring game and first of this season.
36 points was the third-most scored in a game by a TU player and second all-time in conference games.

Golden Hurricane Women to Face Rice in Houston

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooklyn Alexander

Kennedi Alexander

Kristol Ayson

Paige Bradley

Mady Cartwright

Jade Clack

Delanie Crawford

Lexie Foutch

Elise Hill

Hadley Periman

Temira Poindexter

Golden Hurricane Women to Face Rice in Houston

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brooklyn Alexander

Kennedi Alexander

Kristol Ayson

Paige Bradley

Mady Cartwright

Jade Clack

Delanie Crawford

Lexie Foutch

Elise Hill

Hadley Periman

Temira Poindexter

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