Tulane Moves into C-USA Tournament Finals
Jun 21, 1999 | Women's Basketball
February 28, 1999
NEW ORLEANS, La. - - All-American Grace Daley scored 27 of her game-high 29 points in the second half and Kristen Koch added 26, as the third-seeded Green Wave claimed an 87-74 win over No. 2 seed Louisville in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament at Fogelman Arena on Sunday.
With the game tied at 62-62 with 6:42 left to play, Daley and Koch combined to score 18 points as part of an 18-4 Tulane run over the next five minutes to seal the victory. Koch started the run with a three-pointer on an assist from Daley, before Daley added two free throws and a tip in to give the Wave a 69-62 at the 5:05 mark. Louisville's Sharon Bellamy hit two free throws to cut the lead to five, but Daley answered with two free throws, assisted on another Koch three-pointer, and hit a driving lay-up to push the Tulane (23-5, 12-4 C-USA) lead to 76-64. Two more free throws from Bellamy cut the Green Wave margin to 10 with 2:23 left to play, but Koch hit two more foul shots of her own and Daley added a driving lay-up after a steal to put Tulane ahead 80-66.
The win, Tulane's sixth in a row, advances the Green Wave to the Conference USA Tournament finals for the second time in three years. Tulane will meet top-seeded Cincinnati, who were 77-68 overtime winners over Marquette in Sunday's first semifinal.
Daley led all scorers with 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting and a 10-of-12 effort from behind the three-point line, while adding a game-high six assists, five rebounds and two steals. Koch's 26 points came on 7-of-11 shooting, including a 5-of-8 performance from beyond the arc and a 7-of-9 showing from the charity stripe. She added three rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. Janell Burse added 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in just nine minutes of work off the bench.
Tulane jumped out to a 26-14 lead behind a 16-4 run that snapped a 10-10 tie. Daley started the spurt with a driving lay-up and Burse added a lay-up of her own to push the Wave lead to four points. Lacey Vicknair hit a free throw before Burse added two charity tosses and another lay-up to give Tulane a 19-10 cushion with 11:07 left in the first half. A Gwen Slaughter lay-up pushed the lead to 11 and a Fabrecia Roberson basket gave Tulane a 26-14 advantage at the 8:54 mark. But Louisville (21-10, 12-4 C-USA) closed the half with a 29-10 burst to take a 43-36 lead into the locker room despite Tulane's 61.9 field goal percentage (13-of-21).
In the second half, Tulane took better care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers, none coming over the final 11 minutes. After having played just seven minutes in the first half, Daley came out in the second half with a vengence. She scored four quick points to cut the Louisville lead to four and her old-fashioned three-point play at the 11:41 mark cut the Lady Cardinal lead to one, 51-50. Louisville's Stacey Hillman hit a free throw to push the Lady Cardinal lead to two, but Kiki Cizmar, who had played limited minutes in Tulane's last seven games due to a back injury, drained a jumper from the right baseline to tie the game at the 10:42 mark. Gwen Slaughter's free throw gave the Green Wave its first lead since the 4:20 mark of the first half and marked the first of nine straight lead changes over the next three minutes.
Tulane shot a Conference USA Tournament record 62.2 percent from the floor for the game, while holding Louisville to just 41.8 percent shooting, including an 8-of-27 showing in the second half (.296). The Green Wave held a 33-24 edge in rebounding and the Tulane reserves out-scored their Lady Cardinal counterparts 17-5.
Monday's Championship game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2 on a tape-delayed basis at 10:30 p.m., Monday night.
