This afternoon in the Queen City, the Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to the Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats are 9-10 overall and 2-5 in the conference. While the Tulsa Golden Hurricane are currently 13-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Bearcats won their last home game, which was against UCF last Saturday on January 22nd. The starting line up for the Bearcats were Clarissa Craig, Braylyn Milton, Jillian Hayes, Caitlyn Wilson and Jada Scott. Akira Levy who is a typical starting guard and lead scorer for the Bearcats was not playing for unknown reasons, but she was a strong motivator from the sidelines.
To start off the game, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane won the tipoff. Tulsa started with a missed 3 pointer jumper, but Tulsa came up with the offensive rebound and made their second-chance 3 pointer with Maya Mayberry. On the other hand, Clarissa Craig, scored UC first bucket with a driving layup.
In the first quarter, Tulsa went on a 13-4 lead with under 4 minutes left in the 1st quarter. Caitlyn Wilson, turns the 13-4 lead to a 13-7 lead by making 3 pointers off of a turnover. Wilson came back down the court on a fast break to make another 3-pointer cutting making the game only a 3-point difference. With less than 3 minutes on the clock, a shooting foul was called on the Bearcats sending Mayberry to the line, increasing the Tulsa lead by 2 points. Which was there first trip to the line, making the first quarter wrap to 15-10. In the second quarter, Tulsa held their lead. The Golden Hurricane shot 47% from the line and had a total of 20 rebounds which contributed to their transition offensive allowing plenty of inside shots. With a total of 18 of their points inside of the paint for the first half. Tulsa led 36-20 at end of 1st half.
To start the third quarter off, Niang made 10 points from the paint. Niang was putting up back-to-back buckets and really dominating the paint. In the third quarter, both teams were going back in fourth with shots. With only less than 2 minutes left, the lead difference changed three different times with Tulsa only leading by one point to end the 3rd quarter.
It was a close game to start the 4th quarter. Eventually, Tulsa tied the game 60-60 with a 3-pointer made by Wyvette Mayberry. However, the Bearcats established their lead and kept their momentum and scored their next three possessions with Milton, making a three-pointer followed by Hayes, driving layup in the paint. Next, Milton pull up jumper off of a turnover and lastly, Jada Scott, made a layup to make the last shot that made the final score of 66-60 with 11 seconds to go. Tulsa missed their next two possession from the 3-point line, solidifying the Bearcats victory.
The Bearcats really maximize their potential in the second half. The Bearcats were 56% from the line, creating a total of 26 points in the paint just in the second half, while most of these points can be accredited to Niang, who mastered her posted up hook shoot in this game. Cincinnati lowered their turnovers with only a total of 5 turnovers compared to the 8 turnovers that they had in the first half. In the second half, the Bearcats shot more from the outside with 67% compared to Tulsa’s 33% from the 3 point line. Bearcats optimized their transition defense by creating a total of 16 points off of turnovers in the second half. They also locked down the paint more creating five blocks as well.
The stat leaders for the Bearcats in their 66-60 victory over Tulsa were Arame Niang with 18 points and eight rebounds, Caitlyn Wilson with 13 points, Braylyn Milton with 11 points and five rebounds. Lastly, Jillian Hayes had 14 points and five rebounds. The Bearcats had a tremendous bounce back. At one point in the game, the Bearcats were trailing 19 points behind. All in all, the Bearcats fought to the end and pushed through in the second half by forcing more turnovers and creating more shots in the paint. The Bearcats next game will be away. They will be traveling to Memphis to play the Tigers, who are 11-6 and 2-4 in the conference, on February 2nd.
