Tulsa and SMU battle for third seed in women’s WAC Tournament
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane stormed southbound Thursday night asthey met the SMU women’s basketball team to battle over theNo. 3 seed in the standings before next week’s WACTournament.
Holding a 6-3 over their last nine games, including a 52-45victory in El Paso against the Miners last weekend, the Mustangssaw the ball in their court leading up to the contest.
The Ponies charged out of the gate to begin the game, as theyled by nine at 14-5 with 12:18 to go in the first half.
Following the Ponies’ early attack, however, it would benearly four minutes before another point was scored, as sophomoreforward Megan Moody would pull the Golden Hurricane to within sevenand set the stage for a Tulsa comeback.
With 7:10 remaining, Moody struck once again following twosuccessful buckets by freshman guard Jillian Robbins.
Moody’s shot put the finishing touch on an 8-1 Tulsa run,and diminished the Mustang lead to two points at 15-13.
Sophomores Kendall Shead and Sarah Davis picked up where thePonies had left off following their charge to begin the game.
Shead gained four points on a pair of back-to-back shots nearthe six-minute mark, and five points from Davis in the finalminutes helped SMU to a 31-23 halftime lead.
Robbins opened up the second half with a basket to pull herGolden Hurricane to within six, only to see senior guard AndreaCossey follow with a pair of points in the paint.
Moody’s shot would once again prove deadly for the Stangs,as the native Australian trimmed the SMU lead to three with asuccessful jump shot.
The Ponies answered with a 3-pointer from the hands of AndreaCossey put the Mustangs back in charge at 43-34.
This momentum continued, as two fast break points from juniorguard Kaira White inflated the SMU lead to 13, at 53-40. Whitewould finish with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds.
This advantage would not be enough, however, as a combination ofMustang turnovers and lack of rebounds saw Tulsa deplete aseemingly stable lead.
With 1:55 left in regulation, the visiting Golden Hurricane hadclosed in on a one point lead, as the score stood at 64-63.
Tulsa finally leapfrogged past the Ponies, as a 3-pointer fromsophomore guard Kara Pongonis gave the Golden Hurricane a 66-64lead they would not relinquish.
Robbins was successful on five of six free throws down thestretch, and a 3-point shot from SMU senior guard Shanta Ramdhannywith 20.7 seconds left was not enough. Tulsa completed anunbelievable comeback with a 73-67 win before a mix of GoldenHurricane and Mustang faithful at Moody Coliseum.
With the victory, Tulsa (18-9, 11-6 WAC) seems guaranteed tomaintain the third slot in the standings for next week’stournament in California. The Mustangs (13-13, 9-8 WAC) head outwest with the number four position in their hands.
Before the WAC Tournament begins, SMU will host the second-placeRice Owls (18-7, 15-1 WAC) this Saturday at 2 p.m. in MoodyColiseum.
