Tulane University
Grambling
Women's Basketball Cruises Past Grambling
Nov 10, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2000
NEW ORLEANS, La. - - Sophomore Britt Themann, making her first career start, scored a career-high 22 points, while Janell Burse added 18 points as the Tulane women's basketball team cruised to a 92-64 win over Grambling in the first round of the Preseason Women's National Invitational Tournament at Fogelman Arena on Friday.
With the win, Tulane (1-0, 0-0) advances to face Texas in the second round of the WNIT, as the Longhorns posted a 72-47 win over Wichita State in Austin.
Themann scored eight of Tulane's first 10 points, as the Wave jumped out to an early lead. A Kelly Scanlon three-pointer at the 14:02 mark gave the Green Wave a 19-5 lead, while a Taryn Turnbull lay-up capped a 12-2 Tulane burst that put the Wave ahead 26-7 with 11:39 remaining. A three-pointer and a jumper from Grambling cut the lead to 14, but that would be as close the Lady Tigers would get in the first stanza. A basket from Gwen Slaughter, a lay-up from Turnbull and a free throw from Burse restored the 19-point margin. Veronika Marks hit a three-pointer for Grambling to cut the lead to 16, but the Wave responded with an 11-0 burst, capped by a Themann three-pointer, to take a 42-15 lead with 5:18 left. The teams traded baskets before Themann hit an acrobatic put-back lay-up at the buzzer to give Tulane a 54-26 advantage at the break.
Grambling got as close as 26 on three different occasions in the second half, but each time the Wave responded to the challenge. A three-pointer from GSU's Shrieka Evans cut the Green Wave margin to 70-44 with 9:33 left, but Tulane answered with a 12-2 run to claim its biggest lead of the game, 36 points, with 4:24 left.
Themann had 17 points at halftime en route to game-high scoring honors with 22 points. She connected on 9-of-12 shots from the field, had three assists, one block and one steal. Burse was 8-of-10 from the floor for 18 points, while pulling down eight rebounds and blocking two shots. Freshman Tiffany Wilson had a solid Tulane debut, contributing 14 points and four rebounds.
Shrieka Evans led Grambling with 15 points, but Tulane's Taryn Turnbull harrassed her into a 5-of-20 shooting night. Natalie Evans added 14 points for the Lady Tigers.
Tulane connected on 66.0 percent of its shots (33-of-50), including a 68.8 percent (22-of-32) effort in the first half. The Wave's defense also came up big, holding Grambling to just 64 points, a full 24 below their season average of 88.9 which led the nation last season. The Lady Tigers made just 27.6 percent of their shots (24-of-87), while the Wave recorded 11 blocked shots, five coming from sophomore Teana McKiver.
In addition to her five rejections, McKiver scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting. Sarah Goree added five points and five rebounds, but dished out a game-best seven assists. In all, it was a good night for the Tulane guards, as Goree, Kelly Scanlon, Taryn Turnbull and freshman Kelly Nadeau comined to record 18 assists against just eight turnovers. Nadeau handed out five assists, while Kelly Scanlon had four assists to go along with eight points. Each had just one turnover.
Tulane returns to action on Sunday, as the Wave travel to face Texas in the second round of the WNIT. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CST, and the game can be heard in the New Orleans area on WRBH radio, which is located at 88.3 on the FM dial. The game can also be picked up via the internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
