Mayberry helps Tulsa women hold off Tulane for 67-65 win
BY MIKE MOGUIN World Correspondent
Monday, February 11, 2013
2/11/13 at 7:19 AM
Taleya Mayberry scored 24 points, including a key three-point play, to help Tulsa stun Tulane 67-65 Sunday afternoon at the Reynolds Center.
The win was big for TU as Tulane entered the game in second place in Conference USA.
Tulsa (9-13 overall, 4-5 in C-USA) played tenaciously as it surged to an early lead and overcame deficits and a comeback attempt from Tulane.
"We've always been a program that contends, but we've always had a hard time closing out games," Mayberry said. "To have Tulane come in here and for us to get a victory is really big."
TU's Kelsee Grovey scored 16 points, and Tiffani Couisnard picked up 10 and led the team with nine rebounds. Mayberry and Grovey each connected on three 3-point baskets.
Mayberry got a layup that broke a 60-60 tie with 45.4 seconds remaining, was fouled and hit the free throw.
"We were trying to score," Mayberry said. "We were tied and we had to take a step up and make something happen before the close of the game."
Jamie Kaplan brought the Green Wave to within a point after making two free throws.
Grovey then dribbled to midcourt with 28 seconds left, was fouled and hit both shots.
Mayberry then was fouled by Kaplan with eight seconds left. She also made her free throws, bringing the score to 67-62 and clinching it for Tulsa.
"We try to break the conference season into two halves," Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman said. "And we finished the first half 3-5. We had some close games that got away from us, and we want to make sure we had some close games that didn't get away from us.
"Today, hopefully, gave us confidence that we can finish games against good teams."
The Green Wave converted 44 percent (25-of-57) of their shots, while the Hurricane hit 40 percent (22-of-55).
But TU shot a higher-percentage in 3-point field goals and free throws. It hit 38 percent (8-of-21) in 3s and 71 percent (15-of-21) from the foul line, while Tulane made 29 percent (5-of-17) of its 3-point tries and 67 percent (10-of-15) of its free throws.
The Green Wave was led by Whitney Bibbins and Danielle Blagg, who finished with 22 and 12 points, respectively.
The Golden Hurricane stormed to an 18-4 lead with 13:02 left in the first half. Mayberry got the first seven points, capped with a 3. Grovey made two of her 3s and Ashley Clark hit one in the stretch.
But Tulane tightened up on defense and rallied. It went on a 15-0 run while forcing TU into missed shots and took the lead.
The Green Wave earned its first lead at 19-18 on a basket from Tyria Snow.
"We went through a period where we were hitting shots," Mossman said. "Then we went through a seven-minute period where we didn't make shots. I don't think we made bad shots. I felt like they were up on us a little tighter."
The Golden Hurricane had a 60-53 lead with 3:11 left.
But after a Tulane timeout, the Green Wave surged back with a 7-0 run to tie it with 1:49 to go.
"We knew they weren't going to let us have that game, so we had to come right back, " Mayberry said.
Original Print Headline: Mayberry helps TU hold off Green Wave
TU up next
At Houston
7 p.m. Thursday
Radio: KQLL fm93.5, KWTU fm88.1 HD3
Associated Images:
Tulsa's Taleya Mayberry drives past Tulane's Jamie Kaplan on Sunday afternoon. Mayberry led the Golden Hurricane with 24 points. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
Tulsa's Mariah Turner drives against Tulane's Tiffany Dale in Sunday's game. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
Tulsa's Tiffani Couisnard comes up with a loose ball under pressure from Jamie Kaplan of Tulane. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
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