Tulsa Falls to Charlotte in The American Second Round

Sunday, March 9

Fort Worth, Texas • Dickies Arena

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

Charlotte

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Tulsa Falls to Charlotte in The American Second Round

3/9/2025 8:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

FORT WORTH, Texas — The fifth-seeded Tulsa women's basketball team (17-14) fell Sunday in the American Athletic Conference Championship second round to 12-seed Charlotte (11-20) in a 71-66 decision at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

The 49ers grabbed the lead at 3:10 in the second quarter and didn't give it up for the rest of the game. They led by as much as 12 at the start of the second half (40-28) before Tulsa fought back to trim the deficit to just one at 57-56 with 5:24 remaining in regulation. Charlotte found answers for each of Tulsa's scoring runs and held the Hurricane to a season-low 14 3-point attempts. Even though Tulsa made seven from deep, a 14-of-19 clip (73.7%) from the free-throw line by Charlotte helped give the Niners the edge over Tulsa.

Four Hurricane scored in double-digits, with senior Delanie Crawford leading the way with 18 points. Senior Kristol Ayson contributed 14 points from close range and junior Hadley Periman and sophomore Mady Cartwright each tallied 10 points. Junior Cam Mathews helped coordinate the offense with a team-high three assists.

Periman earned her eighth double-double this season after adding 14 rebounds to her 10-point effort. 11 of her boards came in the first half, and she finished with three blocks for the ninth time this year. Ayson led with two steals.

Charlotte's Hayleigh Breland came away with 23 points after making 9-of-11 from the field. Her teammate, Keanna Rembert, joined her in double-figure scoring territory with 14 points, while Imani Smith paced the Niners with nine boards and added nine points.

"It was a really competitive game on sides," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "Hats off to Charlotte who played a great game. Really felt like our team fought really hard. I'm proud of the sparks we had. We had really great moments of offensive flow and even defensively in some critical possessions chipping away and making it a closer game. Really proud of this team's heart, ability to fight and stay together."

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST QUARTER . . .
The first quarter was a defensive battle with each team recording 10 rebounds, resulting from seven on defense and three on offense. Hadley Periman had as many as six boards in the first quarter alone. Charlotte started the game on a 5-0 run before Tulsa got on the board with a run of 7-0, before pulling ahead late in the quarter with a 3-pointer and a second-chance layup from Periman, putting TU 14-12 through the first 10 minutes. Periman and Paige Bradley each scored five points, while Mady Cartwright contributed four. As a unit, Tulsa shot 37.5 percent from the field and held Charlotte to just 28.6 percent.

IN THE SECOND QUARTER . . .
Quarter two did not go the Hurricane's way as Charlotte outscored TU 21-12 in the frame. Kristol Ayson (6) and Delanie Crawford (5) accounted for 11 of the 12 points scored. Hadley Periman reached 11 rebounds in the game late in the period. Tulsa had shot 28.6 percent from the field while the Niners shot 40 percent of 8-of-20 shooting and 2-of-4 made 3-pointers.

At the half, Tulsa was 33.3 percent from the field (10-30), including 28.6 percent in threes (2-7) and 50 percent from the line (4-8), while Charlotte was 35.3 percent in field goal shooting (12-34), 36.4 percent from deep (4-11) and 100 percent from the charity stripe (5-5).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER . . .
Charlotte punched in its largest lead of the game at 12 points (40-28) at the 8:02 mark to start the second half, but Tulsa clawed its way back to a three-point deficit at 49-46 to close the third quarter. Five points from Delanie Crawford and Jade Clack each helped fuel the Hurricane's 20-16 performance in the frame. TU shot 53.8 percent and made 3-of-4 3-pointers while earning eight rebounds, four of which came from Clack.

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER . . .
Tulsa put together another 20-point quarter but was outscored 22-20. Delanie Crawford stepped up to score eight points off three goals, two of which came from deep. Despite only being a point away at 57-56 thanks to a brilliant scoring run capped off by a steal and fast-break layup from Kristol Ayson, Tulsa never managed to capture the lead as Charlotte converted on key free throws down the stretch. Crawford's second three of the quarter came with seven seconds left in the game to make it a 68-66 contest, but the Niners' Keanna Rembert made the game-sealing free throws in the following possession. Charlotte would finish 6-of-10 from the line and out-rebounded Tulsa 9-6 in the frame.

GAME NOTES

The Golden Hurricane's four-game win streak against the 49ers was snapped. TU still leads the series 4-2.
Tulsa falls to 17-26 in conference championships and 5-11 in the American Championship.
Tulsa hit 7-of-14 3-pointers for .500 shooting, the team's second-best effort this season.
The Charlotte defense held TU to 14 3-point attempts, the least in a game this season for the Hurricane.
Junior Hadley Periman reached three blocks for the ninth time this year.
Periman also finished with a double-double, earning 10 points and 14 rebounds. It's her eighth double-double this season and in her career.
11 of her rebounds came in the second half.
10 points by Periman marks her 14th double-digit scoring effort this season and 15th of her career.
Periman's 14 boards are her 10th double-figure rebounding clip this year and 17th of her career.
Senior Delanie Crawford led with 18 points for her 27th game scoring double-digits this season and 86th of her career.
Senior Kristol Ayson produced 14 points to record her 10th double-digit game this year and 20th of her career (54 when counting NJCAA games).
Sophomore Mady Cartwright finished with 10 points for her 16th game surpassing 10 points this year and 26th of her career.
Periman ranks ninth in TU history for career rebounds with 635, passing her teammate Delanie Crawford.
Periman also ranks fifth in TU history with 135 blocks, needing 14 to pass Temira Poindexter's (2021-24) 148 career stuffs for fourth.
Crawford moved to 77 3-pointers this season. 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's 18 points moved her to 1,720 career points. She needs 23 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 587 after recording five on Sunday.
Crawford has 318 career assists for ninth all-time. Four 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 285.