SMU runs past Tulsa women
BY MIKE MOGUIN World Correspondent
Monday, January 28, 2013
1/28/13 at 7:24 AM
A second-half surge by SMU combined with Tulsa's poor shooting set the tone as the Mustangs completed a 71-46 rout of the Golden Hurricane Sunday in women's college basketball at the Reynolds Center.
The Mustangs (15-4 overall, 5-0 in Conference USA) led by just eight points at halftime but exploded in the second half with a 24-2 run. Conference-leading SMU outrebounded TU 47-37, got points off of second- and third-chance attempts and quickly corralled Tulsa's missed shots.
TU (7-12, 2-4) struggled to shoot against a stingy SMU defense. It converted just 23 percent (6-of-26) in the first half and finished with 25 percent (15-of-60) for the game. The Hurricane did not make a 3-point basket and shot 70 percent (16-of-23) in free throws.
Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman said the 23 percent shooting in the first half was bad enough, "Then lo and behold, at the first or second media timeout (of the second half), we're shooting 19 percent. It affects everything else you do when you're not making shots. Especially from the 3-point line, we go 0-for-17 from three.
"It affects your psyche," Mossman said. "It affects who you think you are, and we have to get to the point where making shots doesn't define us. Our identity should be from rebounding and playing defense, and unfortunately, our psyche (suffered) because we didn't make shots."
SMU shot 45 percent (28-of-62) in field goals, 33 percent (3-of-9) from 3-point range and 75 percent (12-of-16) from the foul line.
The game was tight in the first half. The Golden Hurricane drew to within 18-17, but went down by 10 after a 9-0 Mustang run. Jessica McQuinn snapped the funk with a field goal right before the buzzer, making the score 27-19 at halftime.
SMU's big run made it 52-23 with 12:30 left in the game. The largest margin, 33 points, came at 65-32 with 5:37 left.
Keena Mays, SMU's leading scorer, had just three points in the first half but finished with 12 for the game. The Mustangs also got 11 points from Akil Simpson and 10 each from Destynee Hives-McCray and Lexus Williams.
Kelsee Grovey led Tulsa with a game-high 13 points, most which came late.
"You have to forget about it (in regards to the large margin of defeat)," Mossman said. "You forget about that and you come back and do the things that you were doing earlier (in previous games). We were playing well. There were some games we didn't win, but it wasn't because we didn't play well.
"Tonight, we did not play well. SMU, everything they touched turned to gold and we weren't quite so lucky."
Tulsa will play at UTEP at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Women's basketball
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Associated Images:
Tulsa's Loren McDaniel battles for the ball against Akil Simpson of SMU Jan. 27, 2013. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
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