Tulsa Women’s Basketball Season Ends in WNIT First Round

Thursday, March 20

St. Charles, Mo.

7:00 p.m.

Tulsa

17-15,11-7AAC

Lindenwood

22-10,16-4OVC

Tulsa

Lindenwood

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Tulsa Women’s Basketball Season Ends in WNIT First Round

3/20/2025 10:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The Tulsa women's basketball team fought until the very end, but the might of the 22-10 Lindenwood Lions was too much to overcome, falling 76-60 Thursday in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in Lindenwood's Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo. The Golden Hurricane ended their season with a 17-15 overall record with wins in five of their last seven games.

Tulsa started the game with a 5-0 lead that was quickly snuffed out by the Lions' 16-0 scoring run. Lindenwood maintained a comfortable advantage for the rest of the contest, leading by as many as 24 points in the first half and 26 points late in the second half before securing the 16-point win.

The ball just couldn't find the net for Tulsa as the Hurricane finished 35.2 percent (19-54) from the field and 18.5 percent (5-27) from beyond the arc compared to Lindenwood who shot 43.5 percent (27-62) and 42.9 percent (9-21) from downtown. TU also gave up 18 turnovers on the night, five more than the Lions.

Four Hurricane ended the season with double-figure scoring with senior Kristol Ayson and redshirt junior Paige Bradley leading the way with 13 points apiece. Sophomores Mady Cartwright (12) and Jade Clack (11) rounded out the contingent. Ayson also coordinated the offense with four assists.

On defense, junior Hadley Periman logged team-highs of nine rebounds and two blocks, while Bradley finished with three steals.

Five Lindenwood players contributed double-figure points in the Lions' win Brooke Coffey leading the team with 13. A sixth Lion finished with just one point shy of double-digits as Lindenwood would run away with their first postseason win.

"I'm just really grateful for this team and the opportunity to compete here in the postseason," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "It meant so much to our players to continue our journey together. You have these opportunities to learn and grow, and I feel that there was a lot of growth with a day like today."

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Tulsa struck first when Hadley Periman blocked a Lindenwood layup that set up Mady Cartwright for a transition layup turned and-1. Periman added another block on the following Lions' possession and swished the subsequent layup, giving TU the initial 5-0 advantage. The Lions answered back, however, with a 16-0 scoring run fueled by 12 points from four Lions' 3-pointers. Lindenwood would run away with the first quarter, leading the Hurricane 27-12 after 10 minutes. Tulsa would finish 26.7 percent from the field (4-15), while the Lions shot 52.6 percent (10-19) with four-of-six made 3-pointers in the frame.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Lindenwood continued scoring from all levels of the court with no answer to be found from Tulsa to start the second quarter. Hadley Periman tied Kristol Ayson for a team-high six points when she made her first basket from downtown at 5:14. The Lions moved to their biggest lead of the half at 24 points (43-19) at 2:07 before closing out the half ahead by 21 with the 45-24 advantage.

At the half, Tulsa was shooting 28.6 percent from the field (8-28), just 6.3 percent from deep (1-16) and 87.5 percent from the line (7-8), while Lindenwood was cruising at 51.4 percent in field goal shooting (18-35), including 60 percent from 3-point land (6-10), and 75 percent from the charity stripe (3-4).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Tulsa found an early spark in the second half, going 4-for-8 including two triples from Paige Bradley in the first 5:55. TU's defense tightened up a bit, holding Lindenwood to a game-low 15 third-quarter points while having its best scoring effort of the day at 16 points. Paige Bradley and Jade Clack each led Tulsa with six points in the frame as both teams would finish 4-for-14 in field goal shooting in the quarter. Lindenwood would lead 60-40 heading into the fourth frame.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Lindenwood scored the first six points of the final quarter before Tulsa got on the board with a driving layup from Paige Bradley. Mady Cartwright was the first to hit double-figure points when Hadley Periman dished her a pass to set her up for an uncontested 3-pointer, her first of the game. Paige Bradley joined her in double-digit territory with a layup before Kristol Ayson made it to 10 points with a pair of free throws with 2:46 to go. Despite being down by as many as 20 points at multiple moments in the quarter, Tulsa never gave up on either side of the ball, pressing the Lions and causing turnovers while setting up multiple Hurricane for smart shots from the field. Although the Hurricane put up 20 points in the quarter for their best effort of the game, it wasn't enough as Lindenwood did just enough to hold off any potential comeback, closing out the game 76-60.

GAME NOTES

Lindenwood got its first win against Tulsa, chipping into TU's series lead 2-1.
Tulsa moves to 5-8 in postseason play and 2-5 in the WNIT.
Senior Kristol Ayson and redshirt junior Paige Bradley led TU in scoring with 13 points each.
Ayson recorded her 11th double-figure scoring game of the year and 21 of her career (55th when counting NJCAA games).
Bradley finished with her ninth double-digit scoring contest this season and 12th of her career.
Sophomore Mady Cartwright put together her 17th double-digit scoring game this year and 27th of her career.
Sophomore Jade Clack tied her career-high with 11 points for her third double-figure scoring game this year and in her career.
Periman ranks seventh in TU history for career rebounds with 644, passing Carla Morrow (1998-02) and Loren McDaniel (2010-14), who each had 642 in their time at Tulsa.
Periman also ranks fifth in TU history with 137 blocks, needing 12 to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 148 career stuffs for fourth.
Crawford finished the season with 77 3-pointers. It's tied for the third-most in a single season by a TU player and just 22 off the record of 99 she set last year.
Crawford ended her career with 1,725 career points for third in Tulsa history.
Crawford finished No. 5 in the all-time field-goals-made career chart for TU with 588.
Crawford has 320 career assists for ninth all-time.
Lastly, Crawford concludes her career with an .821 career free throw percentage, the ninth-best in Tulsa history. She also had the eighth-most free throws under her belt with 288.