After blowing a big lead over SMU, the Golden Hurricane finally earned a win with an upset at home over Houston.
The Golden Hurricane women’s basketball team completed their two-game road trip with a visit to SMU in Dallas on Wednesday night.
Early on, the game looked good for Tulsa. The offense was rolling in the first half, putting up over twenty points in each quarter. The strong scoring put them ahead at the halftime break, 43-32. The second half went much different than the first, as SMU found their offensive groove. Tulsa allowed too many offensive rebounds that gave SMU a chance to come back. In the fourth, the Golden Hurricane held a seven-point lead but saw it fade away as they only managed to tally eight points in the quarter. SMU squeezed out the 74-70 victory, extending Tulsa’s conference losing streak to eight games.
Following the loss, Tulsa returned home to match up against Houston. Once again, the offense was clicking for Tulsa in the first half, as they burst out to a 27-12 lead after just one quarter. The lead continued through halftime, and the second half of this game played out much different than the SMU game. This time, the offense stayed strong, scoring at least twenty in each quarter of the second half. Houston played well in the final quarter and scored a massive thirty points, but Tulsa had a large enough lead and secured the 83-77 win.
The victory snapped the eight-game losing streak, giving Tulsa their first conference win since January 6 against Cincinnati. Their record sits at 9-16 (3-9 American Athletic Conference). Next up for the Golden Hurricane is a matchup against that Cincinnati team on the road. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.