Tulane University
Alabama
Alabama Women's Hoops Defeats Tulane In Tuscaloosa
Nov 22, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2000
TUSCALOOSA - The Alabama women's basketball team survived a tough opponent and 25 turnovers to earn a hard-fought 64-63 victory over Tulane on Wednesday night at Coleman Coliseum.
The Tide (2-0) got a pair of free throws from Shondra Johnson with just 0:10 left in the game to secure the win over Tulane (3-2). The victory marked Alabama's 41st consecutive home win over a non-SEC opponent and avenged a 12-point loss to the Green Wave last season.
"Tulane is a quality opponent," said UA head coach Rick Moody. "They are very tough to guard. Our team can score but not when you turn it over as much as we did tonight. We have to take care of the ball and give ourselves a chance. It was a great win for us and I'm proud of the heart of our players. They just refused to quit. We need so win some games like this in order to develop the confidence we need for the rest of the season."
Alabama opened the game sluggish going scoreless for the first four minutes while committing seven turnovers. Tulane failed to capitalize on the Tide drought scoring holding just a 6-0 lead before a Johnson layup at 15:45 got Bama in the scoring column.
The Tide continued to struggle offensively as the Green Wave earned its largest lead of the period, 24-12, on Kelly Nadeau's fifth three-pointer of the half at the 9:51 mark. Alabama answered with three quick scores of their own to slow the Tulane spurt. UA continued to cut into Tulane's advantage and with a nine-point spurt late in the half, Bama earned its first lead of the game 35-31 with 1:09 remaining.
Tulane refused to quit retaking the lead with three free throws and a layup by Sara Goree at the buzzer sending them into the half up by one, 36-35.
UA started the second half with a 6-0 run to regain a lead (41-36) that they maintained for most of the remainder of the game. A more patient Bama offense continued to extend its margin holding its largest lead, 52-44, with 10:37 left on Beth Vice's third trey of the period.
The Green Wave mounted a rally trimming the Tide's lead to a single point three different times. A turnover by Vice with 0:18 left led to a Goree layup that gave Tulane a 63-62 advantage. Johnson took the inbounds pass, drove the length of the floor and attacked the basket drawing a foul on Gwen Slaughter setting up the final free throw scene. Tulane had a final possession thwarted by a Johnson steal with three ticks left in the contest.
Vice paced the Tide offense with 17 points while Johnson chipped in 15 points and seven assists. Shun Hunter had 10 points and Joni Crenshaw added 11 in the victory. Hunter and Sparkle Smith shared rebounding honors as each player grabbed eight.
Nadeau finished with a game-high 22 points including six three-pointers with Janell Burse scoring 14 and Slaughter posting a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. The Green Wave also struggled with turnovers recording 25 in the game.
The Crimson Tide return to action on Friday night against California in the opening round of the Illinois-Chicago Thanksgiving Tournament. Alabama and Cal play at 4:30 p.m. in the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. South Alabama and UIC are the other teams in the tournament field.
