No. 1 Blue Devils Trample Tulsa, 90-36

Dec 21, 2002

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TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Iciss Tillis played the role of returning hero as No. 1 Duke mauled her hometown University of Tulsa 90-36 Saturday.

The game marked the worst defeat in school history for TU. The Hurricane had a school-record 35 turnovers, shot a season-low 27.9 percent and didn't get off a shot in the first four minutes of the game.

"There were a lot of times we just stood around and admired Duke instead of competing," TU coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said.

Tillis, a 6-4 junior from Tulsa's Cascia Hall High School, had 19 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

All-America teammate Alana Beard had 25 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and four assists.

"I was even more excited than Iciss was," Beard said. "I thought it was great she got to play in her hometown."

The tempo of the game was determined in the first four minutes.

Duke (10-0) forced Tulsa into turnovers on its first eight possessions in jumping to an 11-0 lead.

TUs first shot attempt was converted by Alyssa Shriver at 15:34 of the first half, but that was one of few Tulsa made.

Iciss Tillis scores 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting and grabs five rebounds.

Allison Curtin, a senior transfer from Illinois who began the day as the nation's fifth-leading scorer at 26 points per game, had 12 of her team-high 16 points in the first half. But her TU teammates combined for just five as Duke streaked to a 44-17 halftime lead.

"Games like this can be fun if you compete, but we didn't even compete with them," Curtin said. "They dominated us in every aspect and thats really disappointing."

The Blue Devils forced 18 first-half turnovers and were deadly from the perimeter, making seven of 11 first-half treys, led by a 3-for-3 performance by Michele Matyasovsky, who finished with 13. Sheana Mosch added 11 for Duke.

Curtin had 13 turnovers for TU (4-6), which shot 27.9 percent and was outrebounded 48-31.

The Blue Devils made 11 of 26 3-pointers while Tulsa made just 1 of 11.

The game was played before 4,519, the largest crowd to watch a women's game in Tulsa.