AAC ROUNDUP
No. 9 Tulane 76, No. 8 Memphis 64
Ninth-seeded Tulane shot 49 percent from the field and collected 23 points off turnovers en route to a 76-64 win over No. 8 Memphis in the first round of the American Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Green Wave will face top-seeded UConn in today’s quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. It will be Tulane’s first quarterfinal appearance since 2016 when the Green Wave also beat Memphis 70-64. Kolby Morgan led Tulane with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Trailing by one point in the first quarter, Tulane used an 8-0 surge to take the lead for good. The Green Wave broke the game open with another run, this time a 15-4 burst in the second quarter that allowed them to open a 35-22 halftime lead. Tulane extended its lead to 59-40 after three quarters as Kaila Anderson made a 3-pointer with five seconds left in the quarter, and the Green Wave survived despite being held scoreless over the final 3:44. Cheyenne Creighton had 21 points and nine rebounds for Memphis.
No. 7 East Carolina 85, No. 10 SMU 74
East Carolina avenged loss to SMU in the first round last year, cruising to an easy win over the No. 10 Mustangs. Up next for the seventh-seeded Pirates (25-6) is No. 2 South Florida in today’s quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. Nine different players scored for East Carolina, which scored 28 points off of 31 SMU turnovers and received 32 points from its bench. The Pirates put four players in double-figures, including Salita Greene (18 points), Lashonda Monk (17), Ariyana Williams (16) and Alex Frazier (10). The Mustangs (10-20) fell despite shooting 48 percent from the floor and outrebounding the Pirates 40-32. SMU’s McKenzie Adams and Ariana Whitfield combined for 47 points. Despite shooting 20 percent from the field in the first quarter, East Carolina led 15-14 after eight minutes, scoring the last six points of the quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Whitfield briefly tied the game at 28-28 in the second quarter, but the Pirates outscored the Mustangs 12-7 in the final five minutes to enter the locker room with a 40-35 lead.
No. 11 Temple 72, No. 6 Wichita State 59
Tanaya Atkinson and Emani Mayo combined for 44 points, as No. 11 seed Temple upset No. 6 seed Wichita State in the first round. Temple head coach Tonya Cardoza, a former UConn assistant, collected her 200th career win as the Owls shot 47 percent from the field. Temple (12-18) plays No. 3 Central Florida in today’s quarterfinals at noon. Wichita State (14-7) used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to tie the game at 28-28, but Temple scored the last six points in the final minute of the half to open a 34-28, the last two coming on driving layup by Atkinson just before the buzzer. Temple held Wichita State (14-17, 9-7 American) to shooting 29 percent from the floor in the opening quarter, as Mykia Jones drained a 3-pointer in the final 21 seconds to give her side a 15-11 edge at the first intermission. The Owls carried the momentum into the second period, using a 13-7 run to expand out to a 10-point lead. Rangie Bessard scored 23 points to lead Wichita State.
No. 12 Tulsa 98, No. 5 Houston 72
Tulsa shot 57 percent from the field to become the first No. 12 seed in AAC tournament history to advance past the first round with a surprisingly easy win over No. 5 Houston. Tulsa’s 98 points were the highest single-game total for the team this year as the Golden Hurricane (10-20) earned a trip to the quarterfinals for the second straight year. They will play No. 4 Cincinnati at 8:30 p.m. Tulsa’s Shug Dickson (22) and Crystal Polk (28) combined for 50 points to fuel its explosive offense. Three teammates joined them in reaching double-digit scoring. Tulsa led 25-12 after the first quarter and 46-36 at the break as Polk went 7-for-8 from the floor. Tulsa continued to its torrid shooting in the third quarter, shooting 61.1 percent from the floor to open a 73-58 lead after headin into the fourth quarter, where the Golden Hurrican led by as many as 28 points. Houston is 20-11.