Tulsa Women’s Basketball Prevails 81-79 in Close Battle at Memphis

Saturday, March 1

Memphis, Tenn.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

16-13,10-7AAC

Memphis

7-21,5-12AAC

Tulsa

Memphis

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Tulsa Women’s Basketball Prevails 81-79 in Close Battle at Memphis

3/1/2025 4:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Tulsa women's basketball team escaped a high-octane battle at Memphis Saturday, prevailing 81-79 off the backs of four double-figure scorers. The Golden Hurricane's fourth straight win moves them to 16-13 overall and 10-7 in American Athletic Conference action, while dropping Memphis to 7-21 and 5-12 in league play.

A win at Wichita State on Tuesday, March 4, will secure TU the No. 5 seed at the AAC Championship in Fort Worth, Texas (March 8-12).

Leading the way was none other than senior Delanie Crawford, who finished with 22 points off 8-of-19 shooting from the field. Joining her in double-digit scoring territory was Sophomore Mady Cartwright (19), junior Hadley Periman (18) and senior Kristol Ayson (10).

Periman coordinated the TU offense with a career-high nine assists, setting up six of her teammates for scores. She also led the Hurricane with six boards and two blocks. Redshirt junior Paige Bradley helped boost the defense with a floor-high four steals.

A strong 30-21 second quarter by the Hurricane put Tulsa in a strong position at the half, 45-37. Tulsa had its biggest lead of the game at 6:56 in the fourth quarter, but saw Memphis fight back with a strong rebounding game, finishing with 50 on the day compared to Tulsa's 33. Despite a one-point difference at multiple points late in the fourth quarter, TU never gave up the lead, kept their composure and closed a thrilling ending.

"No road games are easy," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "No home games are easy either. There's such great competitiveness in our league. We knew today would be a hard-fought game and wouldn't have expected it any other way. Just so proud of our team's effort. Road games are never easy, especially this one. There were some things that didn't go our way. We didn't do a great job on the boards and there were some things defensively that we needed to do a little better, but this team's fight and heart and everything they did down the stretch to stay with things and stay together was so impressive."

Memphis' Tilly Boler led the Tigers with 25 points. Two other Tigers scored in double-figures while Alasia Smith produced 11 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Memphis jumped ahead 8-4 to start the game. Their start was due in part to Tilly Bolers 2 made 3-pointers in the first two minutes. Then, Tulsa utilized an 11-0 scoring to launch ahead 15-8. Points came from four different Hurricane in that stretch. For the remaining 3:42 of the quarter, the Tigers enjoyed a scoring run of their own, closing out the first period on top 16-15. Tulsa finished the quarter 35.3 percent from the field with 10 points off turnovers, while Memphis shot 37.5% in the frame and outrebounded the Hurricane 13-8.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Tulsa put on an offensive clinic in the second quarter, scoring a whopping 30 points. Delanie Crawford and Hadley Periman each scored eight points and combined for five assists with Kristol Ayson following with seven points. As a unit, the Hurricane shot 57.9% from the field (11-19) and 44.4% from deep. Memphis' 21 points came from just three players. The Hurricane forced four Tiger turnovers, leading to fast break scores for Tulsa. When the half ended, TU led 45-37.

At the half, TU was 47.2% from the field (17-36), including 33.3% from 3-point land (6-18), 83.3% from the line (5-6), while Memphis was 41.9% in field goal shooting (13-31), 37.5% in threes (3-8) and 88.9% from the charity stripe (8-9).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
The third quarter was high-scoring and tight between the two teams, with Memphis edging out Tulsa 25-23. Mady Cartwright scored 10 points in the frame and Hadley Periman came away with 3 assists. Although Memphis brought the score to within a point at 56-55, Tulsa remained in control and pulled ahead 68-62 to end the quarter.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Tulsa enjoyed its largest lead of the game at 12 points (76-64) at the 6:56 mark, but the Tigers fought back with a 10-0 scoring run to make it 76-74 at 3:24. Snapping the scoring drought for TU was Delanie Crawford on a layup from Hadley Periman. Tulsa kept control of the lead and relied on clutch free throws from Crawford to keep the edge. Despite missing 11 of its last 12 shorts, TU held Memphis to just five points in the final three minutes, including a layup by Tilly Boler with five seconds left that put the score at 80-79 Tulsa. Crawford went 1-of-2 from the line after the subsequent Memphis foul, and Tulsa survived the last-second 3-point attempt by Boler, prevailing 81-79.

GAME NOTES

Tulsa extended its series lead over Memphis to 16-13 with its third consecutive win over the Tigers.
TU scored 22 points off turnovers to Memphis' six. The Hurricane also won the fast break point battle 17-9.
The Hurricane turned in a season-low 10 turnovers.
Tulsa made 11 3-pointers. It's the team's seventh game this year reaching that mark in a game this season.
Senior Delanie Crawford led the team with 22 points. It's her 10^th game scoring over 20 this season and 26^th in her career.
It's also Crawford's 25^th double-figure scoring game and 84^th of her career.
Sophomore Mady Cartwright finished with 19 points for her 14^th double-digit scoring contest this year and 24^th of her career.
Junior Hadley Periman put together 18 points for her 13^th double-figure scoring game this season and 14^th of her career.
Periman also set a career-high of nine assists.
Senior Kristol Ayson recorded 10 points. It marks her ninth game scoring 10 or more points in a game this year and 19^th in her career (53 when counting NJCAA games).
Periman ranks ninth for career rebounds with 608. She needs 37 to pass Loren McDaniel (2010-14) and Carla Morrow's (1998-02) 642 boards for seventh.
Periman also ranks fifth in TU history with 129 blocks, passing Chanel Johnson (2007-09).
Crawford moved to 72 3-pointers this season. It's the fifth-most in a single season by a TU player and just 27 off the record of 99 she set last year.
Crawford's 22 points moved her to 1,686 career points. She needs 57 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 578 after recording eight on Saturday.
Crawford has 212 career assists for ninth all-time. 10 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 eighth-most free throws under her belt with 274.