Women's Hoops: Tulsa Falls To Northern Iowa

Ashley Clark and Erika Wakefield both had a team-best 14 points, but it wasn’t enough as Tulsa fell to Northern Iowa, 75-59, on Sunday afternoon at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. TU concluded non-conference play with a 3-8 mark on the season, while UNI moved to 5-5 overall.

“We just got off to a bad start and we got called for a lot of fouls that tied our hands early,” Head Coach Matilda Mossman said.  “We couldn’t get into any rhythm offensively because we had weird combinations on the floor due to foul trouble.  We came out in the second half with our regular rotations and pulled to within one, but UNI did some good things and we just had some breakdowns and it cost us.”

Jessica Pongonis scored eight points in her first career contest for Tulsa, while Kelsee Grovey and Crystal Polk both added six.  Clark and Jordyn Holmes both had a team-leading six rebounds.

Tulsa had 36 points in the paint and 21 points off the bench, while UNI had 16 points in the paint and 16 points off the bench.

Tulsa shot 42-percent from the field, 27-percent from three-point range and 55-percent from the free throw line, compared to UNI’s 40-percent from the field, 40-percent from behind the arc and 87-percent from the charity stripe.

Northern Iowa had a 38-36 lead in rebounds and an 18-9 advantage in assists, while both teams had five steals and TU had a 2-1 lead in blocks.

Tulsa hit just 1-of-7 to start the game for 14.3-percent as UNI jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 5:53 on the clock.  Pongonis came in and hit a jumper nine seconds later and helped TU battle for a 19-11 score at the first quarter break.

The Golden Hurricane went down by 11 with 8:22 on the clock, 24-13, in the second quarter, but Tulsa put together a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to five (24-19) at the 7:25 mark.  The Panthers outscored TU, 12-5, to close out the half for a 12-point lead, 36-24.

Tulsa ended the first half with a 33-percent field goal percentage, but hit just 1-of-5 three-point attempts for 20-percent and were 5-of-10 from the free throw line for 50-percent.  UNI shot 32-percent from the field, including 40-percent from behind the arc, and hit all eight attempts from the charity stripe.

TU went on a 14-0 run to take their deficit from 41-26 to 41-40 with 5:40 on the clock in the third quarter, but UNI scored the next seven points for a 48-40 lead at the 4:21 mark.  The Panthers inched ahead to a 58-46 lead at the end of the third period.

Northern Iowa outscored Tulsa, 11-4, in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter and earned a 19-point win, 69-50.

Jen Keitel had a team-best 21 points and nine rebounds for UNI, while Amber Sorenson added 17 points and Madison Weekly totaled 12.  Sharnae Lamar was credited with eight assists.

Tulsa will return to action on Wednesday, December 30th against East Carolina in American Athletic Conference play.  Game time is set for 7:00 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.