TU Women Fall To Texas Southern In Opener

The Tulsa women's basketball team dropped an 88-80 decision to Texas Southern in the season opener on Friday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. TU is now 0-1 on the season, while TSU moved to 1-0 overall.

"We scored enough points to win," coach Matilda Mossman said. "Anytime you score 80 points you like your chances of winning, but we just didn't guard anybody. We were really disappointed with our defensive effort and the fact that we didn't play with any kind of defensive presence or intensity."

Loren McDaniel posted her sixth career double-double as she netted 14 points and pulled down a team-leading 10 rebounds. Ashley Clark scored a team-high 19 points, just one shy of her career-best set against SMU last season, while Kadan Brady came in off the bench and hit four three-pointers for 12 points.

Stevi Parker added eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Mariah Turner and Jasmine Vasquez each tallied six points, and Erika Lane earned a team-best five assists.

TU shot 42-percent from the field, 32-percent from behind the arc and hit 14-of-19 free throws for 73-percent. The Golden Hurricane had 29 points off the bench, 28 points in the paint and 20 points off turnovers.

Tulsa had a 42-34 lead in rebounds and a 15-9 advantage in assists, but Texas Southern had a 12-7 lead in steals.

Texas Southern had four players with double-digit points, including 32 from Jazzmin Parker, 20 from Alexus Johnson, 14 from Sarah Williams and 12 from Brianna Sidney. The Tigers shot a solid 50-percent from the field, including 50-percent from three-point range, and 83-percent from the charity stripe.

There were five lead changes and three tied scores, but when Parker hit a three-pointer for TSU with 12:21 remaining in the first half, the Tigers took the lead and never relinquished it. TU pulled to within one (40-39) with 1:00 minute to play in the first half, but Parker again hit a three-point basket to give Texas Southern a 43-39 lead at the break.

In the second half, the Tigers climbed to a 14-point advantage (72-58) with 9:09 left to play, but Tulsa chipped away at their lead and pulled to within four with 3:20 on the clock. TSU inched ahead again and earned the eight-point victory.

Tulsa will return to action against Lamar on Sunday, Nov. 17th. Game time is set for 2:00 pm in Beaumont, Texas.