Tulsa Women's Basketball Loses 69-57 To Miami

The Tulsa women's basketball team dropped a 69-57 decision to Miami on Saturday afternoon in the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament at the BankUnited Center in Miami, Fla. TU fell to 3-3 on the season, while the Hurricanes moved to 4-2 overall.

“It was definitely the rebounds that decided this game with a 50-28 difference, the fact that they had 20 offensive boards and they scored 25 second-chance points,” Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. “The first half was huge as they had 17 points off offensive rebounds and that set the tone for the rest of the game. We went into the locker room down 11 and we cut it to three in the second half. They knew we were here and we came to compete, but we just couldn't get our posts going. I thought that later in the game, Mariah competed a lot harder, but the fact that our posts only got one rebound in 40 minutes of basketball concerns me. We have to get better on the rebounding end for us to have a chance. We did the right things on the offensive end, got stops and did a lot of things right, but we couldn't compensate for the lack of rebounding.”

Ashley Clark had a team-leading 17 points, followed by Kelsee Grovey with 11 and Mariah Turner with 10. Clark also had a team-best eight rebounds, while Kadan Brady had three assists and three steals.

The Golden Hurricane cut the lead to three at the 14:57 mark, outscoring the Hurricanes 12-4 to start the second frame. Miami then went on an 11-3 run to take an 11-point advantage with 10:40 on the clock, dropping below a double-figure lead just once in the remainder of the game for the 12-point win.

Miami had a 50-28 advantage in rebounds and a 3-0 lead in blocks, but Tulsa had an 11-10 lead in assists and a 9-6 advantage in steals.

TU had 19 points off the bench, 18 points in the paint and 11 points off turnovers, while Miami had 36 points in the paint, 25 points off the bench and 25 second-chance points.

Tulsa shot 38-percent from the field, 30-percent from three-point range and 68-percent from the free throw line, while Miami shot 41-percent from the field, 18-percent from behind the arc and 57-percent from the charity stripe.

Miami was led by five players in double-figures, including 17 by Adrienne Motley, 12 by Jassany Williams, and 10 each by Jessica Thomas, Necole Sterling and Suriya McGuire. Williams had a team-leading 12 rebounds and Thomas had three assists.

The Hurricanes jumped out to an 8-0 lead at the 18:33 mark, but Clark hit two free throws to put TU on the board. Tulsa pulled to within four points twice, including 12-8 at the 16:09 mark and 14-10 at the 14:44 mark, but Miami inched ahead for a 12-point advantage (30-18) with 5:08 left to play and took an 11-point lead (41-30) into the break.

The Golden Hurricane shot just 33-percent from the field, including 27-percent from behind the arc, and 73-percent from the free throw line, while allowing the Hurricanes to shoot 45-percent from the field in the first half.

Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, Dec. 3 against Saint Louis. Game time is set for 11:30 am at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.