Koch's Career-High Lifts Tulane Past Marquette
Jun 21, 1999 | Women's Basketball
January 14, 1999
New Orleans - Tulane outscored Marquette 15-5 over the final 3:13, as the Green Wave posted an 86-73 win over the Golden Eagles at Fogelman Arena Thursday night.
Senior Kristen Koch scored a career-high 27 points, including an 8-of-8 effort from the free throw line and 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the three-point arc, as Tulane won its 17th straight at home to improve to 13-2, 5-1 in Conference USA play. Marquette dropped to 10-5, 3-3.
Tulane held a 65-52 lead with 9:14 to play before Marquette registered a 12-2 run to cut the Green Wave advantage to three, 67-64 at the 4:47 mark. The teams traded baskets over the next minute-and-a-half, as Tulane held a 71-68 margin with 3:13 remaining. But following a Wave time-out, Janell Burse scored five straight points to key a 9-0 run that gave Tulane an 80-68 lead at the 1:36 mark. Marquette would trim the lead to nine, but Grace Daley hit two free throws before Koch punctuated the win with a driving lay-up to give Tulane the final margin.
In addition to Koch's 27 points, Daley added 25 on an impressive 7-of-8 shooting, including a 3-of-3 effort from the three-point line and an 8-of-10 performance at the charity stripe. Burse came off the bench to add 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks, while Fabrecia Roberson scored in double figures for the third straight game with 11 points. Freshman Gwen Slaughter added five rebounds and three blocked shots in seven minutes of work.
Tulane opened the game with a 20-7 spurt, as six of the Green Wave's first seven baskets was a three-pointer. Marquette cut the Wave advantage to eight, 26-18, at the 8:25 mark, but Tulane responded with eight straight points to push its lead to 34-18. The Golden Eagles then turned to the long-range shot, scoring three-pointers on three of their next six trips down the floor to once again trim the Tulane lead to eight, 39-31, with 1:45 remaining in the half. A Koch jumper and a Lisa Oldenburg free throw gave Tulane a 41-32 lead at the break.
Koch started the second half with two three-pointers, as Tulane pushed its lead to 15, 49-34, just two-and-a-half minutes in. Marquette fought back to cut the Wave advantage to eight before Burse, Koch, Lacey Vicknair and Kiki Cizmar all hit baskets to restore the margin to 15, 63-48, at the 11:29 mark.
Tulane hit over 50.0 percent of its shots for the fourth straight game, finishing the contest 27-of-51 (.529) from the floor. The Green Wave also hit an incredible 75.0 percent of its three-pointers, connecting on 9 of its 12 attempts from beyond the arc. Tulane also reached the 80-point mark for the fourth straight game and for the six time in its last seven contests.
Tulane returns to action on Saturday, as the Green Wave take on cross-town rival New Orleans in the Superdome as part of the Sugar Bowl Basketball Classic. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. as the game will be the first of a doubleheader that also features the Tulane and UNO men's teams at 8 p.m.
