Sports writer Daryl Turner discusses the team’s win against Duquesne last Thursday.
Tulsa women’s basketball officially started off the season against Duquesne on Thursday evening, and came out swinging for the fences. Duquesne started off their season losing by 29 points to UCF on Tuesday and didn’t fare any better in the game against Tulsa.The women started off the game playing hard and aggressive and ended it in the same way. At the end of the first half Tulsa women were leading by 17 points and they ended the game with a score of 77 to 62. The team dominated defensively, ending with a total of nine steals and causing 19 turnovers. Maddie Bittle had four steals herself while Rebecca Lescay and Delanie Crawford each had two and Wyvette Mayberry had one. Before the game Lescay was already ranked fifth in all-time steals here at Tulsa with 179.
The leading scorer for Tulsa was outstanding freshmen Temira Poindexter who finished with 23 points on 8 for 14 field goals and right behind her with 20 points was the sharpshooting senior Maya Mayberry who went 7 for 16 from the field and 5 for 11 from three point land. Mayberry had a three percentage of .455, which for her has been a very common thing throughout her career because she ranks second in Tulsa’s program history for the best three-point field goal percentage.
Other contributors in the scoring column for the women’s win over Duquesne are talented senior Bittle with a solid nine points, super senior Lescay with eight, freshmen Crawford and sophomore Mayberry with seven, along with sophomore Jessika Evans with three. The women were ready from the start and didn’t let up. Coach Angie Nelp has these women ready to hoop and it showed during the game. This season could be a phenomenal one for these Tulsa women if they continue to play like they played against Duqusne. Of course Duqusne is far from the best opponent these women will face this season, but they do give us a glimpse as to what this team could do against more formidable opponents. Stay tuned in Tulsa fans, because this ship has just sailed and there is no telling how far it’s going to go.
Now in terms of next year, Coach Nelp has already signed five new talented young ladies to be a part of the team. There are 5 seniors potentially leaving next year (Lescay, Bittle, Elin Hrafnkelsdottir, Mayberry and Madi Whashington) and these new five pieces are going to hopefully come in and fill the void these amazing seniors will have created. Briley Barnes, Cambridge Mathews, Hadley Periman, Chole Williams and Ahrray Young are the names of these five up and coming members of the Hurricane. Briley Barnes out of Amarillo, Texas is a 6-1 guard/forward who averaged 13.4 points a game while shooting an admirable percentage from three at her high school. Cambridge Mathews is a 5-7 guard from Keller, Texas who averaged 17 points, 4.7 assist, and a really good 2.9 steals per game at Keller High School.
Next up is Hadley Periman who is a 6-2 guard/forward out of Tuttle, Oklahoma, and she is an all around player who averaged around nine points, nine rebounds, four assist and two blocks a game at her high school. Chole Williams is a 6-3 forward from Los Angeles, California who attended Bishop Montgomery High School where she played her freshman and sophomore year and excelled in every aspect of the game. She is currently ranked in ESPN’s Top 100 highschool players and is expected to bring big things to Tulsa women’s basketball. Last but not least we have Ahrray Young who is a 5-11 guard from Elk Grove, California and she averages 14.6 points a game along with 8 rebounds and an astonishing 3.5 steals at her High School, Laguna Creek. These women are superb athletes and are ready to come and sweep everybody at Tulsa off their feet with the amount of talent they possess. The future of the women’s basketball team looks very bright and the potential for some unprecedented achievements at Tulsa seem very plausible.
