Tulsa Suffers 64-45 Setback at Rice

Wednesday, January 29

Houston, Texas

7:00 p.m.

Tulsa

10-11,4-5AAC

Rice

12-9,5-4AAC

Tulsa

Rice

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Tulsa Suffers 64-45 Setback at Rice

1/29/2025 9:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

HOUSTON — The Tulsa women's basketball team kept it close for three quarters with the Rice Owls but was outscored 25-8 in the fourth quarter for the 64-45 loss in Houston. The Golden Hurricane dropped to 10-11 overall and 4-5 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Owls rose to 12-9 and 5-4 in league action.

It was a 19-4 scoring run by the Owls late in the fourth quarter that doomed the Hurricane's chances of snagging their first conference road win of the season.

Both teams had slow starts offensively, and the game was tight for three quarters. The score was tied after the first quarter (17-17) and at halftime (23-23), before Rice took a two-point lead at the end of the third quarter (39-37).

Seven tie scores and seven lead changes highlighted the game for both teams. Rice won the rebound battle 49-29 and went 13-of-14 from the free throw line, including 8-for-9 in the fourth quarter.

TU would finish 29.4% from the field off a 15-of-51 clip while Rice went 24-of-64 for 37.5%, but went 3-for-15 from 3-point land for just 15%. Rice's scoring success came from the paint, where they scored 36 points compared to the Hurricane's 16 points. Tulsa's offense had only four assists and couldn't capitalize off Rice's errors.

Leading Tulsa in scoring was senior Kristol Ayson with 14 points. Her senior teammate Delanie Crawford finished in double-digit territory with 10 points.

Junior Hadley Periman led the defense with seven boards and two blocks.

On the other side of the court, Victoria Flores led the Owls with 26 points with Malia Fisher scoring 16. Hailey Adams finished with 10 rebounds and was one of three players to record three assists for Rice.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Scoring first was Mady Cartwright when she went 2-for-2 from the line at 8:26, helping Tulsa capitalize off Rice's first five shots missing the net.

Tulsa's first field goal came from Delanie Crawford, who swished her first triple of the night at 5:58, putting Tulsa up 5-4. Kristol Ayson drove to the basket for an easy layup on the following possession

After Kennedi Alexander put up a three, Rice took advantage a 9-0 run, scoring on consecutive possessions after only scoring four points in the first five minutes, to go ahead 15-12 before Kristol Ayson sank a trey to tie it up at 15-15 with 2:07 left in the quarter.

The two teams each exchanged 2-point plays in the final two minutes, leading to a 17-17 tie after one quarter.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Both teams suffered another slow start to the quarter with one two points being scored by the Hurricane and Owls in the first four and a half minutes. Jade Clack finally snapped the drought for TU with a layup at 5:27, tying it up at 19-19. Rice was 1-for-6 from the field and Tulsa 1-for-5 from the field at that point. Rice was also out-rebounding Tulsa 8-3 but failed on second-chance opportunities

Rice's Sussy Ngulefac took in a layup at 4:37 and from there, neither team scored for another three minutes until Mady Cartwright went 1-for-2 at the line following a shooting foul. Ngulefac used her height to put up another layup with 45 seconds left. Each team had one more possession and failed to put up a score in the final seconds of the frame, ending the 6-6 second quarter at 23 points all.

Rice went 0-for-9 in 3-pointers during the second period.

At the half, Tulsa was shooting 28.6% from the field (8-28), 36.4% from 3-point land (4-11) and 75% from the line (3-4). Rice was 33.3% in field goal shooting (11-33), 5.9% from deep (1-17) and had not yet made an appearance at the charity line.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Elise Hill got the action going early for TU with a made mid-range jump shot at 9:37. Delanie Crawford then went 1-of-2 at the free throw line following a Rice 3-pointer to tie the game once more at 26-26.

Hadley Periman made her first basket of the night on a triple from the left corner to give Tulsa a three-point lead. Crawford followed up with a three to extend the advantage by six for Tulsa at 32-26.

Rice scored four unanswered points and then the teams traded layups before Kristol Ayson converted a pair of fast break free throws to move Tulsa up 36-32. The Owls' Victoria Flores made a pair of free throws and Malia Fisher scored off a stolen ball to tie it up at 36-36.

Crawford swished a free throw with seven seconds left, but Rice converted an and-1 on the charge down the court to take a 39-37 lead heading into the fourth frame.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Rice's Victoria Flores scored first off a jumper in the paint and saw her teammate Hailey Adams score in the same way on the following possession. After Rice moved to a 6-0 run, Delanie Crawford put in a layup for Tulsa's first points of the quarter at 6:57.

Two free throws by Hadley Periman moved the game to 45-41 Rice at 6:07. The Owls then drew a shooting foul at 4:56, sending the game to the media break.

After the break, Flores converted the and-1 free throw and added a trey with Malia Fisher sinking a layup at 3:08, making for an 8-0 scoring run in the waning minutes of the game to put the Owls up by 12 at 53-41. The Hurricane called a timeout.

Rice benefitted from entering the bonus and made seven consecutive free throws to extend the scoring run to 15-0, holding TU without points for over four minutes.

It was Periman who snapped Tulsa's cold streak with a layup from Jade Clack, making it 60-43 Rice with 1:08 reading the clock.

Kristol Ayson moved to 12 points on the night with a mid-range jumper, which led to a timeout by Rice. From there, the Owls successfully took some time off the clock and went to the line once more. They would finish 8-for-9 in the quarter with Flores going 5-for-5. The final score was 64-45 in favor of the Owls.

GAME NOTES

Rice extended the series lead to 27-14 in the 41^st meeting between TU and the Owls.
Tulsa will need to wait a little longer to grab its first win at Rice. The Owls moved to 19-0 when hosting the Hurricane.
Senior transfer Kristol Ayson led TU in scoring for the second time this season.
Her 14 points is a Tulsa-high and marks her fourth double-figure scoring game of the season and 14^th in her NCAA career (48^th when counting NJCAA games).
Senior Delanie Crawford had 10 points for her 18^th double-digit scoring contest this year and 77^th of her career.
Senior Delanie Crawford's 10 points moved her to 1,549 career points. She needs 12 more points to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 1,560 points for third on the Tulsa career points list.
Crawford stands at No. 6 in the all-time field-goals-made career chart for TU with 534 after recording three on Wednesday. She needs 36 more to pass Poindexter's 569 baskets for fifth.
Crawford has 282 career assists. She needs three more to pass Kelsee Grovey (2012-16) for ninth all-time.
Lastly, Crawford maintains an .813 career free throw percentage, the ninth-best in Tulsa history. She also has the ninth-most free throws under her belt with 244.

The Hurricane will return home to the Donald W. Reynolds Center to take on the Shockers from Wichita State (7-14, 1-7 AAC) on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m.