Sports editor Jaralynn Tammi Morelano says Crawford and Cartwright lead scoring efforts again.
The annual Pink Game was held last week Wednesday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center by the University of Tulsa’s women’s basketball team. Clad in pink,the team faced off against Tulane for its annual Breast Cancer Awareness game. This game was also the stage for Mady Cartwright’s career-best performance, the sophomore guard scoring 23 points. Her performance aided the team in its impressive 73-54 victory over Tulane.
“Yeah, really proud of our team, really proud of our teamwork, really proud of our toughness,” said Head Coach Angie Nelp. “I felt like our team tonight just had it going on both ends of the floor. I felt like our defense was more in sync than it has ever been. I felt like they were really well-connected. We had great coverage on that end of the floor. And then I felt like we came up with some critical rebounds down the stretch. One of the things that I really liked about our defense was the aggressiveness that we had.”
Cartwright had set the tone for her overall game performance from the first quarter, the guard scoring more than half of her points in this period. The offense was, of course, backed up by Delanie Crawford as well. The dominating senior also added five points to the board. These powerhouse scorers were the main contributors to the Golden Hurricane’s 23-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The Green Wave had a tough time keeping up, the team shooting at just under 30% in the first quarter.
The Golden Hurricane would continue to overpower Tulane in the second quarter, almost going into halftime with a 20-point lead. As Cartwright continued to be a must-watch player on the court, Kristol Ayson joined her and Crawford in the scoring party to keep the offensive momentum. Tulane continued to fall behind as the Golden Hurricane played an aggressive defense. The Green Wave only managed 11 points during the 10 minutes of play. Both teams went into halftime with the scoreboard reflecting 41-23.
The half seemed to dampen the fire inside the Golden Hurricane, the team facing a brief scoreless run. The team only made a quarter of its shots (4-of-16), however, its defense remained strong. Tulane would only score 11 points. Thanks to Tulsa’s early offensive threats, the team still ended the quarter with a 20-point lead (54-34).
Tulane, feeling the pressure of the final quarter, finally had its engine roaring. The Green wave would close the gap between its opponents to a 12-point deficit. Sherese Pittman would lead an 11-0 scoring run to put the score 62-50. Crawford and Cartwright would not slow down, however, and the pair would contribute to a 6-0 run to keep the Golden Hurricane out of reach. With consistent defensive strength from the Golden Hurricane, Tulane’s new spark would not be enough to escape defeat. After its scoring run, Tulane would only score twice more, and the team fell 72-54.
Following this game, Tulsa went on the road to Alabama to face University of Alabama at Birmingham. The game was tight knit and went into overtime, but the Golden Hurricane prevailed against the Blazers 72-68. This propelled its conference record to 8-7. Its next game will be its last home game of the regular season, and it will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The game will kick off at 6:30 p.m., and the crowd will get to enjoy the team’s senior night filled with celebration and photo ops with Goldie.
