Women's Hoops Opens C-USA Season Friday at UTEP
Nov 23, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2005
LUBBOCK, Texas - Last season, the Tulane women's basketball team did not play its first Conference USA contest until the 14th game of the season. This year, however, is vastly different, from the lineup to the living arrangements, even to the schedule as the Green Wave tip off the C-USA season with one game under its belt, traveling to UTEP on Friday, Nov. 25.
"Our second game is an early conference game, so it means a little more than a regular game this year," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "Our players are very excited about the new league and meeting one of the new opponents early."
Stockton's Green Wave rides the momentum from two exhibition wins and season-opening victory over Howard, 85-79, to El Paso for the 7 p.m. (CST) opening tip. In the win last Friday against Howard, the Wave placed four players in double figured, paced by 24 points from sophomore forward Jennifer Sands. Rookie Kendra Barnes recorded a double-double in her Tulane debut on 18 points and 12 rebounds while fellow freshman Sasha Staidum tossed in 13 points and sophomore guard Nikki Luckhurst added 10.
While Friday's contest marks the inaugural C-USA women's basketball game for UTEP, it also marks the return of Tulane's freshman point guard Ashley Langford. Langford, who scored a game-high 27 in the exhibition win over the Houston Jaguars, missed the Howard game with a hand injury.
"Playing a team like Howard, who forced us to make a lot of turnover last year, and beating them without our point guard collectively helped us," Stockton said. "Our team is very excited about the season. Our players play with a lot of enthusiasm and are very focused."
The Miners, who joined C-USA in July, enter the game with a 2-0 record after upending New Mexico State, 70-58 on Tuesday night behind 19 points from Izabella Piekarska. In the season opener, Piekarska netted a career-high 20 points as UTEP placed three players in double figures to defeat Northern Arizona, 68-49.
"UTEP has some size, and has a lot of new players," Stockton said. "In some ways they are very similar to us in that they are trying to integrate a lot of new players. This will be anybody's game because you are not sure how the new players will step up this early in the season."
The two teams will meet for the first time on the hardwood since Feb. 15, 1980, the only other meeting between the schools on the hardwood. In that game, Tulane handed the Miners an 86-61 loss at Fogelman Arena.
Following Friday's game at UTEP, Tulane continues its road swing at the Mission Management & Trust Fiesta Bowl Classic on Dec. 3-4 at Arizona. The Green Wave then return to New Orleans on Dec. 18 to take on Central Connecticut State in the first post-hurricane collegiate competition in the city.
