Tulsa Women’s Hoops Ends Regular Season on Five-Game Win Streak

Tuesday, March 4

Wichita, Kan.

6:00 p.m.

Tulsa

17-13,11-7AAC

Wichita State

10-21,4-14AAC

Tulsa

Wichita St.

Photo by: Ali Zamudio

Tulsa Women’s Hoops Ends Regular Season on Five-Game Win Streak

3/4/2025 9:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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WICHITA, Kan. — A strong defensive stand in the third quarter helped the Tulsa women's basketball team pull ahead and take down the Wichita State Shockers (10-21, 4-14 AAC) for a 58-46 victory in the regular season finale on Tuesday evening in Wichita. The Golden Hurricane ends the regular season on a five-game winning streak, moving to 17-13 overall and 11-7 in American Athletic Conference action.

With the win, the Hurricane clinched the No. 5 seed in the upcoming American Women's Championship this weekend, where they'll face the first-round winner between No. 12 Charlotte and No. 13 Florida Atlantic in the second round on Sunday, March 9. Tip-off for TU is slated for 2 p.m. in the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

The first half was a low-scoring affair with Tulsa getting the 28-27 edge at halftime. Then, Tulsa enjoyed its highest-scoring quarter of the day with 19 points while holding Wichita State to just seven points in the third period. The Shockers were held to 3-of-13 field goal shooting in the quarter while Tulsa stole the ball seven times and shot 63.6 percent in the frame off a 7-of-11 clip from the field.

Tulsa outrebounded Wichita State by 10 boards, due in part to two players reaching double-figure rebounds. Junior Hadley Periman paved the way with 13 rebounds, 10 of which were on defense, and senior Delanie Crawford came with 10 total boards, fueled by eight on defense. Periman also had three blocks and saw her sophomore teammate Mady Cartwright produce a team-high four steals to boost the defense.

The Hurricane went on to finish with 15 total steals, with five players recording two or more steals each.

On offense, Crawford led the Hurricane with 16 points, earning her second double-double and eighth of her career in the process. She also coordinated the offense with four assists. Cartwright was right behind with 14 points.

"Defense certainly carried us tonight," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "I was really proud of our defense in the second half. This is such a tough team to face on the road. We handled the physicality that came from it. We had some things that didn't go our way, but we stayed together and keep moving forward together and never stop believing. That's what got us this win today. This team is so impressive with their toughness."

Salese Blow led the Shockers with 17 points, with Jayla Murray joining her in double-figure scoring territory with 10 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
Delanie Crawford scored eight of Tulsa's 15 first-quarter points. TU scored five points in its first two possessions off a Hadley Periman three and a layup by Cam Mathews. Wichita State didn't point puts on the board until the 6:41 mark when Bre'yon White drive in a layup. The Shockers' defense started to put a grip on Tulsa, holding the Hurricane to 1-for-10 field goals made in a four-minute stretch. Consecutive 3-pointers by Crawford late in the quarter tied things up at 15-15, which would be the score at the end of the first 10 minutes. Tulsa took 10 smart 3-point attempts and landed three in the frame.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Quarter two was a low-scoring affair with Tulsa edging out Wichita State 13-12. Jade Clack nailed a pair of 3-pointers and came down with four rebounds in the quarter to help give TU the edge. Neither team shot above 30 percent in the frame, and neither team could gain more than a 3-point leader over the other. Tulsa never made it to the free throw line in the quarter.

At halftime, Tulsa was shooting 29.4 percent from the field (10-34), 33.3 percent from deep (6-18) and 100 percent from the line (2-2), while the Shockers were 36.4 percent in field goal shooting (12-33), 20 percent in threes (1-5) and 50 percent at the charity stripe (2-4). Tulsa had 14 turnovers in the half but was outrebounding the Shockers 26-20 and had five blocks to Wichita State's zero.

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Tulsa opened the second half with an 13-0 scoring run fueled by points from five different players, putting TU up 41-27 to start the half. Wichita State was held scoreless by the Tulsa defense for the first seven minutes of the quarter until the Shockers finally got on the board with a layup from Salese Blow. Hadley Periman made her second 3-pointer of the day during the scoring run. Tulsa enjoyed another scoring run of 6-0 before Wichita State made just their second and third field goals of the quarter in the final 50 seconds. Delanie Crawford led TU with six points as the Hurricane outscored Wichita State 19-7 in the period. Tulsa led by 13 at 47-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Wichita State started the final frame with a scoring run of their own, using a 7-0 run to cut into TU's 47-41 lead. Tulsa started 0-6 in field goals before Mady Cartwright swished a trey at 4:55 from Delanie Crawford. From there, the Hurricane defense tightened up, allowing no Shocker points for exactly four minutes and benefitting from 3-pointers from Cartwright with her second coming at 1:37, putting the Hurricane up 57-43. Cartwright would finish with eight points in the quarter, helping Tulsa do just enough to hold off any potential comeback and finishing on top 58-46.

GAME NOTES

Tulsa's victory helped chip into the Shockers' series lead, which now stands at 23-11.
TU also improved to 3-12 when playing the Shockers in Wichita.
The Hurricane defense had a strong day with 15 steals and seven blocks, both the second-best efforts by TU this season.
Sophomore Mady Cartwright tied her career-high in steals with four.
Cartwright scored 14 points for her 15^th double-figure scoring game of the season and 25^th of her career.
Senior Delanie Crawford led TU with 16 points. It's her 26^th game scoring in double-digits and 85^th of her career.
Crawford also enjoyed 10 rebounds for her second contest this season recording double-digit boards and eighth of her career.
16 points and 10 rebounds marks Crawford's second double-double this year and eighth of her career.
Junior Hadley Periman led the defense with 13 rebounds for her ninth double-figure rebounding game and 16^th of her career.
Periman ranks ninth for career rebounds with 621. She needs 22 to pass Loren McDaniel (2010-14) and Carla Morrow's (1998-02) 642 boards for seventh.
Periman also ranks fifth in TU history with 132 blocks, needing 17 to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 148 career stuffs.
Crawford moved to 74 3-pointers this season. It's the fourth-most in a single season by a TU player and just 25 off the record of 99 she set last year.
Crawford's 16 points moved her to 1,702 career points. She needs 41 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 582 after recording four on Tuesday.
Crawford has 316 career assists for ninth all-time. Six more will help her pass Alexis Gaulden's (2016-20) 321 assists for eighth.
Lastly, Crawford maintains an .819 career free throw percentage, the ninth-best in Tulsa history. She also has the eighth-most free throws under her belt with 280.

The Hurricane have set their sights on the American Athletic Conference Championship. As the No. 5 seed, they will take on the first-round winner of Charlotte-Florida Atlantic on Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m. Central at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.