Tulsa Standard

Tulsa's comeback bid fell short as the Golden Hurricane dropped a 69-67 decision to Tulane on Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.  The Golden Hurricane fell to 16-8 overall and 6-5 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Green Wave moved to 14-11 overall and 4-8 in the league.

Tulsa outscored Tulane, 17-4, in the final frame and besides trailing the Green Wave by 14 in the first quarter, outscored them 53-41 the rest of the way.

"That is what this team is made of - teamwork and toughness," Head Coach Angie Nelp said.  "We may have been down, but we were never out.  This team has the ability to make great comebacks like that.  Our defense in the fourth quarter really sparked our offense for us.  We just got down early in the game, giving them the big runs in the first and second quarter and we put ourselves in a hole, but we came back and had a chance to win it in the end.  I'm just so proud of this team and the heart that they always show when they are on the floor."

Crawford scored a career-high 29 points, 21 of which she had in the first half, while Maya Mayberry added 16 points.  Maddie Bittle pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while Crawford and Mayberry both had four assists and Hadley Periman recorded two blocks.

Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, February 15 at Wichita State beginning at 6:00 pm in Wichita, Kan.

How it Happened

Tulsa started the game with back-to-back threes made by Delanie Crawford and Maya Mayberry, but then went cold, missing their next five attempts, all of which were three-point attempts.  The Green Wave was 9-of-12 to begin the game and climbed to a 21-11 advantage with 3:32 on the clock and owned a 28-14 lead at the end of the frame. 

Tulane inched ahead to a 20-point lead, 37-17, but Mayberry scored a free throw and Crawford hit back-to-back threes to pull Tulsa to within 13 at the 5:54 mark of the second quarter.  The Green Wave took a 48-33 advantage into halftime.

Tulsa shot just 29.4 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from three-point range in the first 10 minutes, but bounced back, hitting 42.9 percent of their attempts in the second frame, including 50 percent from three-point range. 

Crawford scored a career-high 21 points in just the first half, shooting 77.7 percent (7-of-9) from the field, 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from behind the arc and 100 percent (2-of-2) from the line in the first 20 minutes. 

Mayberry added 10 points and Bittle had two, while six other players were held scoreless in the first 20 minutes. 

The Green Wave climbed back to a 20-point lead, 58-38, with 6:53 on the clock in the third quarter but the Golden Hurricane went on an 8-0 run to make it a 12-point game, 58-46, with 2:18 to play in the frame.  Tulane owned a 65-50 advantage with 10 minutes to play.

Temira Poindexter hit a three-point basket to start the fourth quarter, marking her first points of the contest after starting the game 0-of-6.  Poindexter has a season average of 16.4 points per game and has had 22 double-figure scoring games this year.

Crawford and Mayberry both hit treys, and then Poindexter scored on a pull-up jumper to pull Tulsa to within four, 65-61, with 6:58 to play in the contest.  Poindexter hit another big three at the 4:44 mark to make it a three-point game and then Crawford made it a two-point contest, 69-67 as she banked in a three with 1:31 left to play.  Neither team was able to score in the final 91 seconds for the final score.

Game Notes

• This was the 37th game between Tulsa and Tulane … Tulane leads the series 28-9 and has won the last eight games in the series.
• Tulsa was without three of its top seven scorers – Ahrray Young (8.6), Jessika Evans (6.8) and Katelyn Levings (6.0), all missing due to injury … in all, Tulsa missed 21.4 points between the three players.
• Tulsa trailed at halftime by 15 points, tying the biggest halftime deficit this year with the previous time coming in the last game at SMU (33-18).
• Delanie Crawford surpassed her previous career-high of 19 points in the first half with 21 first-half points … she ended with 29 points.
• Crawford had her 15th double-digit scoring game of the season and 23rd of her career.
• Crawford's 29 points was the most since Kendrian Elliott had 38 points vs. Arkansas State on Nov. 19, 2019.
• Katia Gallegos hit her first 3-pointer of the season today in 14 games played.
• Crawford set a new season- and career-high for 3-pointers with seven … her previous career-high was five treys against UCA (12-2-21).
• Maya Mayberry had her 13th double-figure scoring game of the season and 45th of her career.
• Temira Poindexter's streak of 18 straight double-figure scoring games came to an end with just eight points today … she last scored in single digits on Nov. 25 vs. Long Beach State … it was just her second game in single digits this year.
• Tulsa finished the game shooting 36.4 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from behind the arc and 85.7 percent from the line, while Tulane was 47.4 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three-point range and 88.9 percent from the line.
• Tulsa had an 18-6 lead in points off turnovers and 10-6 advantage in fast break points, while Tulane had a 28-6 lead in points in the paint and a 20-3 advantage in points off the bench.

Original source can be found here