Tulsa Falls to UTSA, 60-53

Saturday, January 4

Tulsa, Okla.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

7-8,1-2AAC

UTSA

12-2,3-0AAC

UTSA

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Falls to UTSA, 60-53

1/4/2025 6:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa women's basketball team hosted the American Athletic Conference's top squad in UTSA and fell short in a 60-53 decision Saturday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane fell to 7-8 on the year and 1-2 in conference action, while the surging Roadrunners remain atop the league's standings at 12-2 overall and 3-0 in league play.

It was a day where smart shots were taken but the ball just couldn't find its way through the basket for the Hurricane. TU would finish 29.5% from the field while UTSA went 36.4%. Tulsa never held the lead and suffered a slow first quarter that contributed to the Hurricane's loss.

Sophomore Elise Hill found a way around the league's No. 1 scoring defense, scoring a team-high 15 points. Senior Delanie Crawford joined her in double-figure territory with 10 points.

"I'm always proud of the way that we fight when we're on the floor," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "UTSA is a good team. They're well-coached, and we knew kind of what they were going to try to do to us defensively. I felt like Elise Hill did a great job of making adjustments in the game, being able to attack, get to the rim and doing a ton for us right now offensively. I felt like we got really great minutes from Kennedi Alexander and Jade Clack. We were talking in the locker room a while ago, and we talked about how there's going to be all of these learning opportunities that our team is going to have as we grow throughout a season. And this is one of those opportunities that just hurts and stings, but we've got to be able to handle these moments the right way. We're going to be better on the other side because of it. So excited for us to be able to dive in next week, to get into some film and get into some growing opportunities that we have. I have a great team who's going to embrace that, and we're going to continue to work really hard to be the team that we can be and I believe in this team."

UTSA's Jordyn Jenkins scored 30 points, while Idara Udo finished with 10 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Neither team got on the board for the first few minutes of the game until UTSA's Jordyn Jenkins made a jump shot outside the paint at 7:35. Tulsa went 0-7 in field goals until Kristol Ayson drove to the basket on a layup at 5:06.

Delanie Crawford made a 3-pointer and Jade Clack came off the bench and made a second-chance layup. Eight points and a 3-16 shooting tally by Tulsa would end the first quarter with UTSA not far off at 14 points.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Tulsa's offense had its best performance of the day with a 17-point second quarter on 7-16 made field goals, outscoring UTSA's 16 points.

The quarter was fueled by eight points from Kennedi Alexander on 4-of-5 made field goals. She also brought down a rebound and saw her teammate Kristol Ayson collect two assists.

At halftime, Tulsa was 10-32 from the field (31.3%), 2-13 from deep (15.4%) and 3-6 in free throws (3-6), while UTSA was 11-28 in field goal shooting (39.3%), including 1-7 in threes (14.3%), and 7-9 at the line (77.8%).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Elise Hill came alive in the third quarter with nine points off 3-6 baskets and 2-3 three-pointers.

UTSA led by as much as 12 points at 39-27 with 6:55 on the clock, but Tulsa utilized an 8-0 scoring run late in the quarter to trim the deficit to three at 41-38 with 1:49 left. From there, Mady Cartwright would add one more 3-pointer in the quarter while UTSA went ahead by six at 47-41 to end the frame.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
It was a low-scoring final quarter as UTSA scored 13 points to Tulsa's 12.

Tulsa was down 49-46 at 8:22 after Delanie Crawford made her second three of the game. After that, neither team scored until the 5:23 mark when UTSA's Jordan Jenkins continued her dominance of the game with her 25^th point. In that span, Tulsa missed a layup and two 3-pointers, which could have made a huge difference in the dynamic of the contest.

The Roadrunners continued to answer back every Tulsa score and made all necessary free throws to hold off any chance of a comeback, winning 60-53 over the Hurricane.

GAME NOTES

The Tulsa-UTSA series moved to 7-5 TU. UTSA has now won the last three matchups.
Tulsa lost the board battle 46-35 but out-stole the ball 8-3.
TU tied its season-low for turnovers with 10 in back-to-back games.
Three steals by UTSA are the fewest by an opponent against Tulsa this year. It matches last year's lowest by an opponent (3 by 3 teams; most recently Tulane (3/5/24).
Sophomore Elise Hill led TU in scoring for a fourth time this season.
15 points by Hill is the ninth time she's hit double-figures in scoring and the 12^th time in her career.
Senior Delanie Crawford scored 10 points for her 14^th double-digit scoring contest this season and 73^rd of her career.
Periman's one block moved her to 102 career rejections, putting her at seventh on the all-time TU blocks chart. She needs 19 to pass Megan Moody's (2002-06) 120 blocks for sixth.
Crawford's 10 points moved her to 1,471 career points. She needs 42 points to pass Larrissa Williams' (2006-10) 1,512 points for fifth on the all-time Hurricane points chart.
Crawford also had two three-pointers Saturday, moving to 223 career threes and passing Kara Pongonis-Paslay's (2002-06) 222 threes for second all-time in TU history. She needs just 11 more treys to surpass the Tulsa career record of 233 set by Kelsee Grovey (2012-16).
Crawford stands at No. 6 in the all-time field-goals-made career chart for TU with 505 after recording three on Wednesday. She needs 65 more to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 569 FG for fifth.