Tulane University
Houston
Tulane Defeats Houston to Open Women's Basketball Homestand
Feb 10, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2006
NEW ORLEANS - Jennifer Sands and Jami Montagnino each recorded a double-double and Tulane ended the game on a 15-7 run to defeat Houston, 65-54, in Conference USA women's basketball action Friday night in Fogelman Arena.
With the win, Tulane improved to 11-9, 5-6 in league play, while Houston fell to 9-13 overall and 6-5 in Conference USA.
Sands and Montagnino led a group of four Tulane players in double figures as the Green Wave used a balanced scoring attack, pulled down some key rebounds and made free throws down the stretch to earn their second straight win.
"We really executed in the last three minutes, which was going to win or lose the game," said Tulane Head Coach Lisa Stockton, who recorded her 299th career win with the victory. "Defensively, we came down with big rebounds and we hit our free throws at the end. I thought we did a good job of not giving them a lot of easy baskets off the break and we forced them into some low percentage shots at the end of the game."
Sands tied her career high with 15 rebounds while scoring 19 points, including 14 in the second half. Montagnino pulled down 11 boards to tie her career high while adding 10 points and four assists. It marked the first time this season that Tulane had two players with double-doubles in the same game. Freshman point guard Ashley Langford added 12 points while Nikki Luckhurst scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with 11 points and contributed six assists to lead the team.
"To have two players with double-doubles is a great night," Stockton said. "It was good to see Jennifer (Sands) stepping up and playing her game, doing the things she does well, which is rebounding and scoring."
Houston shot just 29.7 percent from the field in the game, including a 4-of-21 shooting performance by their leading scorer, Tye Jackson, who still finished the game with 15 points. Nakazi Glover led the Cougars with 18 points and recorded six steals.
Tulane controlled the game most of the night but had to withstand a couple of runs by the Cougars to earn the win. After taking a 20-10 lead in the first half, Houston closed to 21-20 before Tulane went on an 11-4 run at the end of the half to take a 33-24 halftime advantage.
In the second half, Houston closed to within three at 50-47 after a three-pointer by Glover at the 6:24 mark, but Sands hit one of two from the charity stripe and Langford hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 53-47. Kendra Barnes gave the Green Wave a comfortable lead with an easy layup off a feed from Sands with 3:25 left and Tulane scored the rest of its points on free throws.
Next, Tulane will play host to Rice Sunday at 2 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. Tickets can be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to the game.
-- Roll Wave --
