Tulsa Completes Largest Comeback in Program History in Overtime Win at UAB

Saturday, February 22

Birmingham, Ala.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

14-13,8-7AAC

UAB

15-12,6-9AAC

OT 1

Tulsa

UAB

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Tulsa Completes Largest Comeback in Program History in Overtime Win at UAB

2/22/2025 5:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Tulsa women's basketball team made TU history after erasing a 20-point third-quarter deficit and coming back to win 72-68 in overtime over the UAB Blazers Saturday afternoon. The win moves the Golden Hurricane to 14-13 overall and 8-7 in American Athletic Conference action, while the Blazers fall to 15-12 and 6-9 in league play.

Saturday's 20-point comeback breaks Tulsa's previous school record by three points, which was a 17-point deficit erasure in this year's season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The win ties for 28^th on the all-time NCAA largest comeback wins list.

Tulsa's top-tier defense used full-court press and forced 27 UAB turnovers, converting them to 25 points off turnovers and 22 fast break points. The Hurricane finished with 14 steals that led to key scoring runs late in the contest.

Things looked bleak after a poor first half that saw Tulsa go just 4-30 from the field and 0-14 in 3-pointers. All 16 first-half points came from the paint or the free throw line. UAB's opening score in the second half gave the Blazers their largest lead of the game at 20 with the scoreboard reading 36-16.

TU's offense came alive in the second half, led by senior Delanie Crawford's 22 points, 10 of which came at the line in the waning minutes of the game. Three others joined her in double-figure scoring, including sophomore Mady Cartwright (14), senior Kristol Ayson (12) and junior Hadley Periman (10).

Periman would finish with 14 rebounds to secure her seventh double-double of the season, which now stands as the 10^th most double-doubles in a single season in program history. She led the defensive effort with five steals and two blocks.

"That's just the DNA and makeup of this team," said Head Coach Angie Nelp. "They just fight incredibly hard. I felt like going into overtime, they were confident. They knew that we could do it with the way they started overtime. We see challenges and adversity, and then you really see adversity in that first half with the shooting woes under the rim or beyond the arc. It was really tough for us to even get to the free throw line. But these girls do such a great job of just continuing to fight. I love the balance that we had offensively. I feel like we had a number of huge moments, but those defensive stops there at the end were huge."

UAB was led by Maddie Walsh's 20 points. Eleecia Carter added 13 points and Jade Weathersby finished with a double-double (10 points; 14 boards).

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
UAB jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game off a 3-pointer and a layup. Cam Mathews got the scoring going for Tulsa at the 7:48 mark on a driving layup, catching the Blazers off-balance.

Tulsa would start 2-10 in field goals through the first five minutes of the quarter, while UAB was already 4-7 and up 9-5. The Blazers added five more points before the first media break to lead 14-5 with 4:06 on the clock.

A pair of free throws by Kristol Ayson were all that TU could muster for the rest of the quarter as UAB went ahead 23-7 after the first 10 minutes. Tulsa went just 2-16 in shooting and 0-9 in threes.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Quarter two started slow for both teams with Tulsa scoring one off a free throw from Mady Cartwright. Jade Clack then moved TU to 23-10 with a layup in the paint at 5:40, which is where the score would remain through the second-quarter media break.

Despite the Hurricane defense tightening up and holding UAB scoreless through the first 6:48 of the quarter, the shots just wouldn't fall for Tulsa. The Blazers would outscore TU 10-9 to enter halftime up 33-16 on the Hurricane.

At the break, Tulsa was just 13.3% from the field (4-30), 0-14 in 3-pointers and 80% in free throws (8-10), while UAB was shooting 40.6% (13-32), including 33.3% from deep (5-15) and 100% from the line (2-2).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
UAB scored first to open the second half off a 3-pointer by Maddie Walsh, adding to her team-leading four field goals. Tulsa got on the board at the eight-minute mark with a pair of free throws from Delanie Crawford resulting from a UAB intentional foul.

Hadley Periman got her first bucket of the day with a 3-pointer – Tulsa's first – at 6:36, snapping the 0-16 start to the Hurricane's deep ball.

After UAB added one more 3-pointer, Tulsa went on a 9-0 run fueled by baskets from four different players to make it a 39-31 game. A Paige Bradley 2-point jumper and a Hadley Periman three moved the needle closer, ending the third quarter at just an eight-point deficit, 44-36.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Both teams came out the gate swinging to start the final period. UAB put up four points off a layup and free throws and Delanie Crawford came alive after sinking a duo of free throws and her first 3-pointer of the day, making it a 48-43 game.

Crawford and Kristol Ayson followed with driving layups to put TU within just a point at 48-47. UAB's ninth 3-pointer would extend the lead back to four at 51-47 at the media break.

UAB entered the bonus after the break and took advantage with a made free throw and followed with a 10^th 3-pointer. Mady Cartwright finally got on the board with a triple, and after UAB responded with a 2-point jumper, TU took a timeout at 3:02 down 57-50.

Cartwright added another three just two minutes later after Kristol Ayson beat the shot clock with a made jumper in the paint. UAB was forced to call timeout at 1:08 up only two at 57-55.

Finally, Crawford gave Tulsa its first lead of the game with a clutch triple with just 54 seconds remaining. UAB would respond with its own three from Eleecia Carter. After a TU timeout, Hadley Periman went underneath for the reverse layup to tie it up at 60-60. The Blazer missed what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer, sending the contest to overtime.

IN OVERTIME . . .
Tulsa and UAB traded a field goal to start the overtime period. After Kristol Ayson took it to the basket, Delanie Crawford followed with a layup of her own and Mady Cartwright converted a pair of fast break free throws to put TU up 66-62 at 3:10.

UAB clawed back as the Blazers swished a mid-range jumper and nailed a couple of free throws to knot it back up at 66-66 with 2:54 reading the clock.

Mady Cartwright caught UAB defenders giving her some space at the arc, so she shot the three and netted it with 1:46 to go. Tulsa's defense then tightened its grip on the UAB offense, holding them without a field goal for the final three minutes of overtime.

Delanie Crawford fielded an in-bound pass and drew the foul with the Hurricane in the bonus, making 1-of-2 at the line with 14 seconds left. Crawford handled the remaining free throws for Tulsa, holding off the Blazers and sealing the 20-point comeback victory for Tulsa, 72-68

GAME NOTES

Tulsa erased a 20-point deficit (36-16, third quarter), completing the largest comeback in program history.
The comeback is tied for the 28^th-largest comeback in NCAA women's basketball history.
The Hurricane moved the all-time series to 11-3 with wins in the last two matchups.
TU gained its first-ever win in the state of Alabama.
Tulsa did not score a point outside the paint or the free throw line in the first half.
The second-half comeback was fueled by 14 turnovers by the Blazers. They would finish with 27 total turnovers, which gave way to 25 Tulsa points off turnovers and 22 fast break points.
Tulsa had 14 steals, tying the team's second-highest effort this season.
Senior Delanie Crawford made a season-high 10 free throws.
Crawford led with 22 points for her ninth 20+ point scoring game this season and 25^th of her career.
Crawford's 22 points stands as her 24^th double-figure scoring game this year and 83^rd of her career.
Junior Hadley Periman came away with her seventh double-double of the season and her career with 10 points and 14 boards.
It's Periman's 11^th double-digit scoring game and 12^th of her career
14 rebounds make for Periman's eighth double-figure rebounding game and 15^th of her career.
Sophomore Mady Cartwright finished with 14 points. It's her 12^th game this season over 10 points and 22^nd of her career.
Senior Kristol Ayson finished with 12 points for her seventh double-figure scoring contest this year and 17^th of her NCAA career (51 when counting NJCAA games).
Periman moves to 125 blocks in her career, ranking sixth on the all-time TU blocks chart. She needs three more to pass Chanel Johnson (2007-09) for fifth.
Crawford now has 71 3-pointers this season. It's the fifth-most in a single season by a TU player and just 28 off the record of 99 she set last year.
Crawford's 22 points moved her to 1,662 career points. She needs 81 more to pass Taleya Mayberry's (2009-13) 1,742 points for second in Tulsa history.
Crawford stands at No. 5 in the all-time field-goals-made career chart for TU with 569 after recording five on Saturday, tying Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 569 baskets.
Crawford has 302 career assists for ninth all-time. 20 more will help her pass Alexis Gaulden's (2016-20) 321 assists for eighth.
Lastly, Crawford maintains an .815 career free throw percentage, the ninth-best in Tulsa history. She also has the ninth-most free throws under her belt with 269.

The Hurricane will head home to Tulsa to host South Florida (20-8, 13-2 AAC) for Senior Night on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. It will be TU's regular season home finale.