Tulane University
TCU
Women's Basketball Holds Off TCU Rally
Feb 23, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. - -
The Tulane women's basketball team needed every bit of a 27-point second half lead as the Green Wave held on for a 74-65 win over C-USA rival TCU at Fogelman Arena on Sunday.
Tulane improved to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in Conference USA play with its fourth straight win. TCU dropped to 13-13 overall and 6-6 in league action. The win also clinched a first-round bye for Tulane at the upcoming Conference USA Tournament.
After taking a 39-29 lead into the locker room, Tulane held TCU without a field goal for nearly four and a half minutes to start the second half and using a 12-0 burst to build a 51-29 lead in the process. TCU's first basket of the second stanza trimmed the lead to 20, but Tulane used a Kelly Nadeau three-pointer, two free throws from Delacey Joseph and a fast-break lay-up from Tymeka Moore to push the lead to 27, 58-31, with 13:31 left.
TCU answered with a 10-0 burst to pull within 58-41 with 10:57 remaining before the teams traded points and Tulane led 67-50 on a Delacey Jospeh jumper with 5:53 left. But that would the Wave's final field goal of the game as TCU scored 12 straight points over the next four minutes to pull to within five, 67-62, with 2:01 left. However, Tulane hit seven of nine free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
"We were very patient on offense which got us some better shots," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "Because of that, we were able to put together a run and build a lead. But then they a nice job of attacking the basket in the second half and coming back."
Kelly Nadeau led Tulane with a season-high 17 points, while also dishing out six assists and tying the school single-game record with eight steals. Teana McKiver added 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for her second straight double-double. She also added three blocks and a steal.
"Kelly Nadeau played such a great game for us," Stockton said. "In the first half, she led us with her offense and in the second, she did a great job of getting some important steals. And Teana was incredible on both ends of the floor. It seemed like everytime we needed a rebound, she got it, and she drew three charges."
Tulane tied its season high with nine three-pointers and held a 41-39 edge in rebounding. The Wave also forced 23 TCU turnovers, scoring 27 points off of those miscues. For the game, TCU was 21-of-52 from the floor (40.4 percent), thanks to a 48.3 percent shooting performance (14-of-29) in the second half. Tulane was 26-of-69 (37.7 percent) from the floor for the game. The Wave also limited TCU to just two blocked shots, while notching six itself. The Horned Frogs had entered the game ranked third nationally with a 7.1 blocks per game average.
Tulane closes out the 2002-03 regular season next weekend, as the Green Wave travel to face East Carolina and Charlotte.
