Tulane University
Charlotte
Charlotte Beats Tulane To Win C-USA Title
Mar 2, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 2, 2003
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - With its 86-80 win over Tulane and Cincinnati's loss at Saint Louis, the Charlotte 49ers are the Conference USA regular-season champions. It is the first conference title for the Niners, who were picked to finish sixth in the preseason, were Co-Sun Belt Conference champions in 1990.
"I'm so proud of the team," head coach Katie Meier said. "Our players deserve it. All year we have talked out staying focused and not start dreaming about what might happen. The best way to realize your dreams is wake up and start doing it. That's what we've done. Before the game, we didn't talk about champinships. We talked about beating Tulane, which is big enough."
Charlotte (20-7, 12-2 C-USA) now has 20 wins this season, the most since winning 23 in 1990-91. It is the team's first 20-win season since 1991-92. Sunday was the first time the team had beaten Tulane (19-8, 10-4 C-USA) in 12 previous tries.
Peaches Harris and Monica League combined to the lead the 49ers with 31 points. Harris had a team-best 18, while League scored 13. Harris also had one three pointer the in game, breaking the school's career three-pointers record with 106. Sakellie Daniels and Pam Brown also finished in double figures for the Niners with 12 points each.
"Peaches eyes just light up when she plays Tulane," Meier said. "Her and Monica were phenomonal today and really have been throughout conference play. They committed one turnover and had six steals and scored 31 between them. They played like veterans and they deserve this."
The Green Wave was led by Teana McKiver, who scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Delacey Joseph added 13, while Gwen Slaughter and Kelly Nadeau had 12 and 11, respectively.
With the score tight throughout, Charlotte sealed the win with 2:01 to play in regulation. Holding on to a 75-74 lead, Harris and Andrea Davidson knocked down four-straight free throws after Tulane's Slaughter was called for her fifth foul. She disputed the call and drew a technical from the officials. The Niners hit all four and led 79-74. With the Wave forced to foul, Charlotte went 7-of-10 the rest of the way to earn the win.
The 49ers led 46-38 at halftime and shot 42.6 percent from the field, compared to 54.4 percent for the Greeen Wave. Tulane also won the battle of the boards with a 40-30 adavantage.
Courtesy of: www.charlotte49ers.com
