Tulane University
Portland
Bench Play Lifts Women's Basktball Past Portland
Dec 1, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2002
PORTLAND, Ore. - -
Tulane 86, Portland 56 - Box Score
The Tulane women's basketball team had 12 players score, including three in double figures, as the Green Wave raced to an 86-56 win over Portland at the Chiles Center on Sunday.
Tulane improves to 2-1 overall with the win, while Portland drops to 1-3 with the loss. The Green Wave also improved to 2-0 while wearing light blue uniforms. Prior to the Wave's season-opener against James Madison, Tulane had not worn light blue uniforms since the 1989-90 season.
Teana Mckiver led Tulane with 18 points and seven rebounds, but the Green Wave got a lift from its bench, as the Tulane reserves outscored their Portland counterparts 44-12. Tulane also had 26 fast-break points.
"We really had a great contribution from everyone tonight," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "You always want to see how your team will respond, and I think we responded very well after our loss to Oregon State. Our defense really set the tone today and we were able to create some offense from our defense."
Tulane had a 45-33 lead at halftime, but quickly scored the first 12 points of the second half to take a 57-33 lead with 17:35 left. The Pilots got to within 18 on two different occasions, the last coming with 8:30 to go, but Tulane responded with an 18-4 run to build an 82-50 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
Delacey Joseph came off the bench to score 13 points for the Green Wave while adding five rebounds and three assists. Muci Haris scored in double figures for the third consecutive game, chipping in 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Lakethia Hampton also added a spark off the bench in the second half, hitting all four of her field goal attempts for eight points.
"We did a great job contesting their shots tonight," Stockton added. "They had to work hard to get their shots and I think they didn't have their legs at the end of the game because we made them work so hard. It was a challenge for our posts to have to guard their perimeter players, but they did a great job."
Tulane connected on 62.5 percent (35-of-56) of its shots for the game, while holding Portland to just 34.9 percent (22-of-63) shooting. Portland also hit just three of their 18 shots from behind the three-point line (16.7 percent), while Tulane was 7-of-11 from beyond the arc (63.6 percent). The Wave had a 38-23 edge in rebounding and forced 23 Pilot turnovers.
Tulane will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 5, as the Green Wave open the home portion of the 2002-03 campaign against Alabama State at Fogelman Arena.
