Tulsa women down UAB for 19th win

TULSA — Temira Poindexter’s game-high 30 points led Tulsa to an 84-72 win over Alabama-Birmingham on Wednesday night in front of 1,058 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 19-8 overall and 9-5 in the American Athletic Conference while UAB fell to 18-9 and 9-6 in league action. Tulsa’s 19 wins is the most since posting 26 victories in the 2005-06 campaign.

Poindexter converted 9-of-16 from the field, 5-of-8 from 3-point range and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe for her fourth 30-plus scoring game of the season.

Delanie Crawford added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Mady Cartwright tallied 13 points and Katia Gallegos scored 11.

UAB took a 15-point lead at the 7:19 mark of the second quarter before the Hurricane closed out the period by outscoring the Blazers 36-21 for a 42-41 halftime lead. Tulsa went on to outscore UAB 63-36 after trailing by 15.

Tulsa opened the second half on a 9-0 run for a 51-41 lead in the first 2:29 of the quarter. UAB got as close as three points at 53-50 on a Maddie Walsh trey.

Tulsa pushed its lead to 12 points in the first 2:40 of the fourth quarter when Poindexter’s 3-point basket made the score 70-58 at the 7:20 mark.

The Hurricane took its largest lead at 15 points when Poindexter knocked down two free throws with 3:56 remaining in the contest.

“We had multiple players in double figures and anytime we can have that kind of balanced scoring attack, our team can be pretty dangerous. Temira ended with 30 points for what was definitely a spectacular performance by her.

Tulsa connected on 49-percent of its field goals and shot a season-high 56-percent from behind the arc and was 72.7 from the line. The Hurricane defense held the Blazers to nearly 10-percent below its season 3-point percentage, limiting UAB to 7-of-25 treys for 28 percent.

Tulsa will be back at the Donald W. Reynolds Center this Sunday afternoon against the South Florida Bulls in a 2 p.m. game.