Sports editor Jaralynn Tammi Morellano says women’s basketball had a night full of celebrations.
The University of Tulsa’s women’s basketball team hosted the South Florida Bulls on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The showdown occurred on the Golden Hurricane’s senior night celebration. The night was even sweeter for Tulsa as the team ran away with a close and well-earned 66-58 victory over the Bulls. This improves its record to 15-13 overall with a 9-7 in the American Athletic Conference. South Florida dropped to 20-9 and 13-3 in the league.
Though it was senior night, sophomore Mady Cartwright was a leader in scoring on Wednesday. The guard shot 18 points, contributing to the Golden Hurricane’s overall 42.4 percent shooting rate from the field. Following in her stead, junior Hadley Periman and senior Kristol Ayson both contributed 11 points.
“Really proud of our team,” Head Coach Angie Nelp said. “Really proud of the way that we played today. I felt like we played with a lot of heart throughout that whole game. Obviously, it’s a game where we had a little bit of extra emotion in honoring our two seniors, Delanie Crawford and Lexie Foutch, but Mady Cartwright stepped up huge for us in this game offensively being able to score behind the arc and being able to drive the ball to the basket.”
The game was tight throughout, the scoreboard seeing nine lead changes and six ties. The Golden Hurricane held a good defense through the entire game. Tulsa forced 18 turnovers and held the Bulls to a 38.6 percent shooting rate.
In the first quarter, Tulsa had an early lead. It came out strong with aggressive plays that led to three made three-pointers. Cartwright was a beacon of points from the start, the guard scoring 10 points in this quarter alone. The Bulls held its ground, key players Carla Brito and Sammie Puisis tugging the team to keep up with the Golden Hurricane.
The Bulls began to take the reins in the second quarter, the visiting team outscoring the Golden Hurricane 15-11. With a tight defense, South Florida made it hard for the Golden Hurricane to penetrate and make it to the basket. A key scorer for its comeback was Vittoria Blasigh, her big presence on the Bull’s offensive transition set a great tempo for the team. Despite the wall Tulsa had to crack through to score, its strong defense kept the Bulls from stealing the lead at the end. The halftime score was 31-30 in favor of Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane turned up the heat once more, outsourcing South Florida 22-17 in the third quarter. Cartwright continued to be a consistent presence on the field, and there were some crucial threes coming from Periman and Kennedi Alexander. With the defense still pushing tons of pressure on the Bulls, it was able to take the quarter 53-47.
The scoring opportunities for both teams were scarce in the final quarter. Though there was not a big change in score, the Golden Hurricane’s 9-0 run made the entire difference. With the Bull’s momentum squashed, Tulsa was able to ensure its victory, finishing the game 66-58.
This game pushes the Golden Hurricane to fifth place in the league, tied with Tulane (9-7 AAC). If Tulsa can perform well in its last two games of the regular season, it can keep its placing and take the No. 5 seed in the AAC Championship.
The Golden Hurricane traveled to Tennessee to face off Memphis on Saturday, March 1. Tulsa won against the Tigers 81-79 to keep its good standing. Its last game of the regular season will be against Wichita State in the Charles Koch Arena at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4.
