Tulsa’s Wakefield and Gaulden Score 13 Points Each in 57-52 Win Over Memphis

Wednesday, January 4

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

5-10 (1-1AAC)

Memphis

7-8 (0-2AAC)

Memphis

Tulsa

Tulsa’s Wakefield and Gaulden Score 13 Points Each in 57-52 Win Over Memphis

1/4/2017 9:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

Final Stats in PDF l Final Stats in HTML l Season Stats in PDF l Photo Gallery

Erika Wakefield and Alexis Gaulden both tallied 13 points to lead Tulsa to a 57-52 win over Memphis on Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane moved to 5-10 on the season and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Tigers fell to 7-8 overall and 0-2 in the league.

"Erika and Alexis give you confidence when the ball is in their hands," Head Coach Matilda Mossman said. "They don't make many mistakes. Erika doesn't make mistakes, and Alexis as a freshman is pretty head smart and gutsy, and when the game is on the line we want them in the game."

"I felt like our team banded together, even when bad things happened to us, we picked each other up and moved on. That was the emphasis before the game, that no matter what happened, just keep moving on to the next play, and that was the best we've done of that this season."

Liesl Spoerl and Ebony Parker both added six points, while Kendrian Elliott, Ashley Hughes and Crystal Polk tallied four points each. Elliott had a team-best nine rebounds, eight of which were on the defensive end, Gaulden and Tatyana Perez had two assists, and Elliott and Hughes totaled two steals.

Tulsa shot 36-percent from the field, including just 28-percent from behind the arc, and was 13-of-16 from the charity stripe, while Memphis shot 33-percent from the field, 15-percent from three-point range and was 11-of-16 from the free throw line.

"Even without those free throws at the end, we were at least getting to the line, so it was pleasing to get to the line the same amount of times as our opponent," Mossman said.

The Golden Hurricane had a 39-38 edge in rebounds, a 10-9 lead in steals and an 8-7 advantage in steals, while the Tigers had a 4-0 lead in blocks.

TU got off to a slow start, hitting just 3-of-10 to trail Memphis, 12-6, with 3:21 left in the first frame and the Tigers had a 15-10 advantage at the end of the quarter.

The Hurricane battled back and took a 20-19 lead with 2:36 on the clock in the second period, outscoring Memphis, 10-4, for their first lead in the contest. The Tigers' Taylor Williams hit a free throw at the 2:07 mark to tie up the score (20-20), and neither was able to score in the remainder of the half.

TU shot 31-percent from the field, 20-percent from three-point range and 83-percent (5-of-6) from the charity stripe, while Memphis shot 34-percent from the field, 14-percent from behind the arc and 60-percent (3-of-5) from the free throw line in the first half.

The third quarter saw three tied scores and two lead changes, but Tulsa narrowly outscored Memphis, 18-16, to end the frame with a 38-36 lead. TU climbed to an eight-point advantage (36-28) with 2:59 on clock in the period, but the Tigers outscored the Hurricane, 8-2, to end the quarter. Tulsa pulled down eight offensive boards and 14 boards overall in the 10-minute period.

The Hurricane climbed to a nine-point advantage at both the 5:58 mark (49-40) and the 4:47 mark (51-42), but Memphis pulled to within two, 54-52, with 14-seconds remaining. Gaulden scored on three-of-four free throw attempts to close out the contest.

Memphis was led by Creighton with 12 points, while Taylor Williams and Milena Bajic both had 10 points. Creighton and Bajic also had a team-leading seven rebounds.

Tulsa will return to action on Saturday, January 7 at USF. Game time is set for 6:00 pm in Tampa, Fla.