Memphis Avenges Tulsa, Wins 69-58

The Memphis Tigers avenged an earlier season loss to Tulsa with a 69-58 victory Saturday afternoon in front of 332 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa fell to 7-13 overall and 4-5 in the American Athletic Conference, while Memphis improved to 11-9, 5-4 in league play.

Turnovers and poor shooting doomed the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa's season-high 25 turnovers turned into 34 points for the Tigers, while the Hurricane scored just 11 points off of 18 Memphis turnovers. Tulsa began the game on fire from the field, shooting 75-percent in the first 10 minutes, but over the final 30 minutes made just 12-of-38 for 31.5 percent.
 
"We set another season high for turnovers.  We thought two games ago that 23 was uncharacteristic, but today we had 25," said Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman. "We played pretty well in the first quarter and were leading, then we played decent in the second quarter despite not shooting well and went into the locker room down three. I felt good going into the locker room down three, but then we come out in the third quarter and we couldn't guard and couldn't make a basket."

The Tigers shot 56.4 percent for the game from the field and outscored the Hurricane in the paint 34-18.  Three Memphis players scored in double-figures, led by Moriah Rowser's 14 points, all coming in the first quarter.  Cheyenne Creighton added 12 points and Ariel Hearn scored 10.
 
Ashley Clark was the only Tulsa player to score in double digits with 14 points, while Kelsee Grovey and Teanna Reid each scored nine points, all coming on three-pointers.
 
After totaling just 19 points in the middle two quarters, Tulsa nearly matched that with 18 fourth period points. The Hurricane outscored Memphis 18-13 in the final 10 minutes.
 
The Tigers increased its three-point halftime lead to 15 points in nearly the first six minutes of the second half with a 50-35 lead at the 4:06 mark. The Hurricane scored the next five points on a three-pointer by Reid and a two-point basket by Tyjae' Scales, cutting the Memphis lead to 50-40.
 
Memphis closed out the third quarter by scoring the final six points and outscored the Hurricane 20-7 for the entire period.
 
Tulsa jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the game and led by as many as five points when Clark's jumper put the Hurricane ahead 18-15 at the 2:57 mark of the first quarter.
 
Rowser's three-pointer with 0:43 remaining in the first period put the Tigers ahead 20-18, but Reid's trey quickly put the Hurricane back ahead as the first quarter ended with Tulsa ahead 21-20.
 
The two teams each shot over 60-percent in the first 10 minutes of the game, as Tulsa connected on 9-of-12 field goals for 75-percent and Memphis made 9-of-15 for 60 percent. Rowser had 14 of Memphis' 20 first quarter points, while six Tulsa players scored in the first period led by Clark's six points.
 
Memphis scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the second period and took a 30-24 lead with 5:56 remaining before halftime. The Tigers held on to take a 36-33 lead into the intermission.
 
The Hurricane cooled off in the second period, shooting just 33-percent and ended the first half at 54.2 percent. The Tigers remained consistent from the field in the second quarter, making 8-of-13 field goals, and finishing the first half shooting 60.7 percent.
 
Tulsa will host the No.1-ranked UConn Huskies this Wednesday night. Tip-off time is 7:00 p.m. Game tickets to see the 10-time national champion and last three-year champion Huskies are priced at $10.00 and can be purchased online at www.TulsaHurricane.com, by calling 918.631-GoTU (4688) or stopping by the Reynolds Center Ticket Office from 9-5 p.m.