Women's Hoops To Battle Jacksonville State In Home Opener
Nov 22, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2004
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University women's basketball team opens its 2004-05 home schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 23, when the Green Wave takes on Jacksonville State at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.
The Green Wave and the Gamecocks have never met in the history of Tulane women's hoops, and the team in olive green and sky blue will look to build on the momentum of Sunday's 62-56 win at George Mason. Tulane enters the contest 1-1 on the year after splitting a pair of games in the nation's capital over the weekend when the Green wave dropped a 67-59 decision to Howard in the season opener before bouncing back two nights later to down GMU.
"I think we're going up against a quality team," head coach Lisa Stockton said. "They return most of their team that won 18 games a year ago, and this will be a good chance to see how far we've come as a team. Playing on Friday and Sunday, fatigue will be a factor, but it's always exciting to play your home opener. This will be Jacksonville State's first game of the season, and hopefully, we got our first-game jitters out of the way."
As a team, the Green Wave are averaging 60.5 points and 40.5 rebounds per outing, and are shooting .473 while limiting opponents to a .371 mark. Junior post player Shelly Cayette paces Tulane with 11.0 points per game, while rookie pivot Alendra Brown and freshman wing Jennifer Sands are tied for second with averages of 8.0, each.
Senior forward Tymeka Moore leads the Green Wave with 8.0 rebounds per game, and junior guard D'Aundra Henry heads the club with 13 assists.
Tuesday's game marks the season opener for Jacksonville State, which is coming off an 18-10 season in 2003-04 and finished third in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 11-5 league record.
As a team, the Gamecocks averaged 73.5 points and 40.6 rebounds per outing a year ago and connected at a .443 clip during the 2003-04 season. Jacksonville State returns 10 of 12 letterwinners from the 2003-04 season, including top scorer and rebounder Shanika Freeman, who averaged 19.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game as a junior last year.
Home openers have been kind to Tulane as the Green Wave are 19-9 all-time in their first home game of the game, including a 9-1 mark under Stockton. Tulane began the Stockton era with three straight home-opening wins, and have now won six consecutive home-openers at Fogelman Arena. The lone time under Stockton that Tulane did not emerge victorious in its first game in front of the home crown was back on Nov. 25, 1997 when the Green Wave dropped a 68-58 decision to SMU.
Following Tuesday's showdown with Jacksonville State, the Green Wave will hit the road for the second time in as many weekends when Tulane travels to San Marcos, Texas, for the Bobcat Classic, hosted by Texas State University. The Green Wave will battle Texas A&M on Friday, Nov. 26, at 5:30 p.m. before closing out tournament play against the host Bobcats at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
