Tulane University
Sw Missouri St
Women's Hoops Come-Back Attempt Falls Short
Dec 4, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2000
NEW ORLEANS, La. - - Tulane rallied back from an 18-point second half deficit, but could not overcome No. 13 Southwest Missouri State, as the Lady Bears made three free throws inside the final 25 seconds to post a 67-61 win over the Green Wave at Fogelman Arena on Monday.
Tulane fell to 3-4 with the loss, while Southwest Missouri State improved to 4-2 with the win. It was Tulane first non-conference home loss since a 68-58 setback to SMU on Nov. 25, 1997. The Wave are now 30-4 in non-conference home games under head coach Lisa Stockton.
Southwest Missouri State took a 15-point lead into halftime and led 46-28 with 14:05 remaining before Tulane began to rally with an 18-5 run. The Green Wave scored eight straight points to cut the SMS lead to 10 before a jumper from Jackie Stiles restored a 12-point cushion. The teams traded three-pointers before Sarah Goree nailed to free throws and a three-pointer and Britt Themann hit a jumper to bring the Green Wave to within five, 51-46, with 8:03 left.
The Lady Bears pushed its lead to eight and the teams traded points until SMS led 60-52 with 3:23 remaining. Baskets from Janell Burse and Gwen Slaughter brought Tulane to within four, 60-56, with 3:08 left. The teams again traded points before a Slaughter free throw cut the SMS lead to just three, 64-61, with 30 seconds remaining. But from there, the Lady Bears hit three free throws to seal the win.
Burse led Tulane with her third double-double of the year, posting 15 points and 10 rebounds. Goree hit three shots from beyond the arc for the second straight game, chipping in 15 points and four assists. It was senior guard Taryn Turnbull who was perhaps the star of the show, however. The Kingston, Ontario native held Jackie Stiles to just 16 points, less than half of the 34.4 points per game she was averaging coming into the contest. It was Stiles' lowest point total since scoring 14 against Indiana State on January 22, 2000. Stiles also hit just 41.2 percent of her shots (7-of-17), compared to the 63.1 percent she carried into the game.
The teams traded baskets early in the first half before the Lady Bears began to slowly pull away. Tulane led 9-8 at the 15:37 mark when SMS scored eight straight points to take a 16-9 lead with 12:29 remaining. A Burse lay-up cut the lead to five and Tulane pulled to within 20-15 before the Lady Bears used a 10-1 burst to claim a 14-point cushion, 30-16, with 3:51 left. SMS would push its lead to 18 before a Goree three-pointer sent the teams into the lockerroom with the Lady Bears ahead 37-22.
"I am certainly not down on us, because I thought we really fought hard and we did a lot of great things tonight," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "We're really struggling offensively and that has been one of our problems lately. Our goal coming into tonight was to be a better team leaving and I think we are. I think we know we can play with a team of that caliber. And we know that we can beat them if we take care of business."
Gwen Slaughter was 5-of-8 from the floor, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block. Britt Themann also scored 12 points, while Teana McKiver pulled down 10 rebounds. The Wave again struggled with free throws, hitting just half of its 32 attempts from the charity stripe. Tulane did outrebound the Lady Bears, 42-40, as the Wave have now outrebounded all seven opponents to start the year. The Green Wave did committ 19 turnovers, but just five in the second half.
Tulane returns to action on Wednesday when the Green Wave travel to Dallas, Texas, to face SMU. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
