TULSA– The Arkansas State women’s basketball concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 68-58 loss to Tulsa Friday afternoon at Donald. W. Reynolds Center on the campus of Tulsa University.

Jada Ford led A-State (5-6) with 17 points, while Akasha Westbrook added seven, but it was not enough as the team shot just 34 percent (19-of-56) from the field and could not overcome a late fourth quarter run for the Golden Hurricane.

Lauren Bradshaw, Morgan Wallace and Westbrook all finished with five rebounds to pace Arkansas State in the category, but Tulsa finished with a 40-34 edge on the boards as the Red Wolves struggled to make shots down the stretch.

Shug Dickson led Tulsa (6-7) with 24 points, while Ebony Parker added 16 points. Kendrian Elliot led all players with 14 rebounds.

A-State used a 7-0 run to erase a six-point deficit in the first quarter to take an 8-7 lead. Ford led the charge with a 3-pointer and a jumper to put the Red Wolves out in front. The advantage grew to 10-9 after four straight field goals.

Ford helped push the advantage to 21-19 at the end of the first quarter with 10 points as the team shot 54 percent from the field. The Red Wolves turned the ball over seven times in the opening 10 minutes, which gave the Golden Hurricane 10 points off the miscues, but A-State held an 11-6 edge on the boards.

Tulsa caught fire in the second quarter as A-State saw its shooting percentage take a hit. The Red Wolves shot just 28.6 percent from the field, while Tulsa hit 53 percent of its attempts.

The Golden Hurricane closed the gap to 26-25 with 5:35 left in the half, but Westbrook answered with a pair of free throw to push the lead to three points. Tulsa tied the game 28-28 with a trey from the corner, but Lycia Peevy and Starr Taylor each responded with tough shots in the paint make it a 32-28 game.

Tulsa responded, however, and closed the half on a 9-0 run to take a 37-32 lead at the break.

Arkansas State finished the opening half 10-of-25 (40 percent) from the field, while Tulsa made 16 of its 35 attempts (46 percent). A-State turned the ball nine times that resulted in 12 points for the Golden Hurricane, while Tulsa also turned the tide on the boards in the second quarter and finished the half with an 18-16 edge.

Arkansas State tied the game twice in the second half but never found enough offense to make a push to retake the lead. Payton Tennison gave the team a jolt of energy with a 3-pointer off a busted play to tie the game at 42-42 with 4:37 to go in the third quarter.

Tulsa responded, however, with a 6-0 run to go up 48-42. The Red Wolves closed to the gap to 50-47 by the end of the period and Tayton Hopkins tied the game to start the fourth quarter when she got a steal, a bucket and was made a free throw after being fouled.

The Golden Hurricane responded again with a 7-0 run after A-State went nearly four minutes without scoring. The dagger for the Hurricane came when Ebony Parker drained a 3-pointer from the corner to go up 62-54 with 3:09 left that came during the midst of 9-0 run to help put the game away.

The Red Wolves open Sun Belt Conference play Friday, Dec. 29 against UL Monroe. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at First National Bank Arena.

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TULSA – The Little Rock women’s basketball team trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, but an offensive and defensive resurgence allowed the Trojans to storm back for a 63-58 victory over Tulsa at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Sunday afternoon.

Tulsa (4-8) shot nearly 47 percent from the field in the first half and took a 33-22 lead into the break. But Little Rock (6-5) held the Golden Hurricane to just 37 percent from the field in the second half while outscoring Tulsa 41-25 in the final 20 minutes.

Kyra Collier scored a career-high 15 points and more than doubled her career high in rebounds with 17 for her first collegiate double-double. Sharde’ Collins tied for the team lead in scoring with 15 points, and Kaitlyn Pratt added 15 points as well and nine rebounds. Ronjanae DeGray was Little Rock’s fourth double-digit scorer, putting up 10 points.

Little Rock’s 63 points were the most it has scored all season, and Sunday marked the first time this year that Little Rock had four players reach double-figure scoring.

The Trojans also dominated the Hurricane on the boards, pulling down 51 total rebounds to Tulsa’s 32. That margin included a 21-5 edge for Little Rock on the offensive glass. Little Rock last recorded more than 50 rebounds against Incarnate Word on Dec. 10, 2013.

For nearly two thirds of the game, things appeared to be destined for a Tulsa win. But Little Rock completely turned things around midway through the third quarter. Tulsa led 45-34 with 5:21 to play, but Little Rock closed the period on an 8-2 run to make the Hurricane’s lead a manageable 47-42 entering the fourth.

It took the Trojans another five minutes of chipping away at Tulsa’s lead before they finally broke through, but a Collins jumper with 4:29 remaining finally put Little Rock ahead for the first time all game. Tulsa’s red-hot shooting dried up in the period as the team went just 4 of 15 from the floor.

In the fourth quarter, Collins scored 6 points and Pratt added 7. Collier added 4 points of her own as Little Rock went 7 of 14 from the field in the fourth quarter.

Tulsa began the game on a 9-0 run before a pair of Collier free throws 4:30 into the game got the Trojans on the board. The Trojans got within one at 19-18 early in the second quarter by scoring its first 4 points, but the Hurricane followed with a 12-0 run and entered halftime leading 33-22.

Carolee Dillard scored 4 points for Little Rock, recording her first points since 2013. Monique Townson had a team-high four assists in 38 minutes. The Trojans scored 34 points in the paint.

The Trojans play one more non-conference game this season on Wednesday, squaring off against the Tigers of LSU. Little Rock and LSU are set for a 7 p.m. tip at the Maravich Center.

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