Tulsa Women Fall to Kansas State, 75-67, in Season Opener

Friday, November 13

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

0-0

Kansas State

0-0

Kansas State

Tulsa

Tulsa Women Fall to Kansas State, 75-67, in Season Opener

11/13/2015 9:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

Final Stats in PDF
Final Stats in HTML
Photo Gallery

The Tulsa women's basketball team dropped a 75-67 decision to Kansas State in the season opener on Friday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in front of a crowd of 1,433. TU fell to 0-1 on the season, while KSU moved to 1-0 overall.

"Our kids fought hard and did everything we asked them to do," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "Going into the fourth quarter we had a five-point lead, but then we had a hard time scoring. Defensively we held our own for three quarters, but they got hot from three-point range, which in the fourth quarter really broke our back."

Sophomore guard Erika Wakefield had a team-best 15 points, while freshman Crystal Polk and senior Kelsee Grovey each added 12 points, and sophomore Jordyn Holmes tallied 11 points. Ashley Clark dominated the boards, pulling down 14 rebounds, 13 of which were on the defensive end. Grovey added team-bests of five assists and three steals.

The Wildcats started the game with an 8-0 run, but Tulsa countered with a 14-1 run to take a 14-9 lead with 3:12 remaining in the first quarter. K-State tied the game at 14-14, but a three-pointer by Grovey would give the Hurricane a lead they would not relinquish until 7:58 on the clock in the second quarter. The two teams traded the lead four more times in the second frame, but went into the locker room tied, 34-34.

Kansas State outscored Tulsa, 9-2, in the first 3:42 off the clock in the third period, but TU battled back to take a 44-43 lead at the 3:57 mark and climbed to a game-best nine-point advantage (52-43) with 1:45 remaining in the third period.

KSU battled back to tie the game at 55-55 with 6:17 remaining in the contest and again at the 4:30 mark (61-61), before taking the lead on a layup by Megan Deines and outscoring TU, 14-6, in the final 3:33 for the eight-point win.

There were 10 lead changes and five tied scores in the tightly contested game.

Tulsa shot 41-percent from the field, 37-percent from behind the arc and 50-percent from the charity stripe, compared to KSU's 41-percent from the field, 45-percent from three-point range and 75-percent from the free throw line.

Tulsa had a 42-39 advantage in rebounds, a 17-15 lead in assists and a 6-5 lead in steals, while KSU had a 14-1 advantage in blocks.

Kaylee Page led the Wildcats with 21 points, Breanna Lewis scored 13, Deines had 12 and Brianna Craig totaled 11. Shaelyn Martin registered nine rebounds.

Tulsa had 30 points in the paint, 20 points off the bench and 14 second-chance points, and K-State had 24 points in the paint, 14 points off turnovers and 14 points off the bench.

Tulsa will return to action on Tuesday, November 17 against Saint Louis. Game time is set for 7:00 pm in St. Louis, Mo.