Tulane University
Houston Jaguars (Ex.)
Tulane Tops Houston Jaguars in Exhibition Opener, 80-74
Nov 9, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 9, 2005
LUBBOCK, Texas - Sophomore forward Jennifer Sands came off the Tulane bench to toss in 15 points and grab 13 rebounds and rookie Ashley Langford tossed in 27 points to lead the Green Wave to an 80-74 win over the Houston Jaguars in Tuesday night's exhibition opener at United Spirit Arena.
While Sands, who moved from guard to forward in the offseason, and her 6-of-8 shooting in 15 minutes of action took much of the spotlight, true freshmen guards Langford and Sasha Staidum also impressed the Lubbock, Texas, crowd in their collegiate debuts.
"I can't say enough about Ashley's performance tonight, she showed so much maturity and had a great overall game," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "Jen (Sands) has been playing very well and really used her strength to her advantage. Sasha (Staidum) also hit some really nice shots for us tonight."
Langford's game-high 27 points came on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and a flawless 11-for-11 performance from the charity stripe. Fellow rookie Staidum also had a hot hand as the Houma, La., native added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting coming off of the Green Wave bench.
Tulane set the tone early, jumping out to a 6-0 lead that was gradually extended to as high as 14 in the first half after Langford drilled a three-pointer at the 3:13 mark. After exchanging buckets with the Jaguars, the Green Wave headed to the locker room with a 40-26 halftime advantage.
Houston whittled away at the Tulane lead, and got it down to seven with 13:47 to play in the second half but the Green Wave scored six unanswered on buckets by sophomore Dominique Philpots, Langford and Staidum to build the lead back to 13. A three-point play from Langford followed by a jumper from Staidum gave Tulane its largest lead of the evening, 72-55, with 4:49 left to play.
The Jaguars then made seven of their last eight shots in the midst of 15-4 run sparked by a trey from Umeka Webb. But the Jags would get no closer as Tulane claimed the 80-74 victory in front of 10,395 fans.
"There were some great things for us tonight, a lot of people went in and contributed," Stockton added. "We really have to tighten up our defense, but as a group we played well together. Overall, for our first time back on the court, it was a good team performance."
Shawnta Johnson led the Jaguars with 22 points while Webb added 17 points to go along with nine rebounds and La-quee Dellas-Boree scored 10.
The Green Wave return to action on Monday, Nov. 14, in an exhibition game at West Texas A&M.
