Tulsa women outrun Thundering Herd
BY MIKE MOGUIN World Correpondent
Friday, January 18, 2013
1/18/13 at 5:42 AM
Kelsee Grovey practices her shots consistently in the gym. It has paid off this season and it was a factor Thursday night as she produced a career-high 20 points to lead Tulsa to a 67-49 victory over Marshall at the Reynolds Center.
Grovey, a freshman guard from Shawnee, hooked up often with Taleya Mayberry, who also had another big night scoring 18 points, for some big plays.
"I've been getting to the gym a lot and shooting a lot because Taleya Mayberry needs help shooting on the perimeter," said Grovey.
"We just tried to get her to be more aggressive and quit acting like she's a freshman," Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman said of Grovey. "She's been hesitant. Her previous high was 17 and then in the next she scored four. She's got to be aggressive for us to take the pressure off of Taleya. She had some open looks tonight and she was able to knock them down. I think that's attributed to the fact that she spends a lot of time in the gym. She gets in here, get shots up and that's obviously helping."
Kadan Brady also finished in double-figures with 10 points.
The Golden Hurricane (6-10 overall, 1-2 in Conference USA) excelled with 3-point shooting with Grovey (4-of-7) and Mayberry (3-of-5) accounting for most. The team would finish at 63 percent (10-of-16) outside the arc, 51 percent (24-of-47) overall and 47 percent (9-of-19) from the foul line.
TU also dominated the boards, outrebounding the Thundering Herd (6-10, 0-3) 41-25, with Loren McDaniel leading with 12.
"Defense and rebounding has been a big emphasis in practice," Grovey said.
Tulsa stormed to an early 8-0 lead, but Marshall came back to within 10-7.
However, TU began to take off. A left-wing trey by Brady with 7:25 left in the first half, followed by her two free throws on the next TU possession, lifted the Hurricane to a 25-14 advantage.
"We've had so many games this season where we competed hard and one or two little things would happen and we would not get the win," Mossman said. "We just really needed to get over that hump and hopefully tonight will carry over to the next game. Our guys competed hard, we played great defense, especially in the first half."
The surge continued as Mayberry got a 3 and made a layup at the glass off her own steal, making the score 30-16 with under four minutes left in the half.
After a 3 from Marshall's Shay Weaver, Grovey nailed a 3, then Mayberry leaped for a lay-up after a mid-court pass from Ashley Clark and hit another trey to bring the score to 38-19 at halftime. Grovey and Mayberry were in on the assist for each other's 3-pointer in that span.
"The first half was as well as we played all year," Mossman said. "The way we played defensively, the way we shared offensively and shot a great percentage"
Marshall responded by opening the second half with a 16-5 run as the Golden Hurricane endured an offensive lull.
But that would be as close as the Thundering Herd would get as TU regained control. Grovey snapped the funk with a 3 to increase the Tulsa lead to 46-35 with 13:23 left in the game.
Marshall was led by Weaver's 12 points. Suporia Dickens also scored 11 and Chukwuka Ezeigbo finished with 10.
The Thundering Herd shot 33 percent (18-of-54), 20 percent (4-of-20) in 3s and was 82 percent (9-of-11) in free throws.
Tulsa plays its next game Sunday at East Carolina. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
Original Print Headline: Hurricane women outrun Herd
Associated Images:
Tulsa's Kelsee Grovey regains control of the ball as Marshall's Orlandria Williams defends Thursday night at the Reynolds Center. Grovey scored a career-best 20 points. CORY YOUNG/Tulsa World
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