Tulane University
Longwood
Aidoo Helps Lead Women's Basketball Past Longwood, 73-58
Dec 5, 2009 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - Junior Tiffany Aidoo scored a career-high 17 points in her first start of the season as the Tulane University women's basketball team defeated Longwood, 73-58, in final day of the Big Easy Classic Saturday afternoon at the UNO Lakefront Arena.
The Green Wave scored the first two points of the game on a pair of free throws by senior guard Indira Kaljo, and junior point guard Roshaunda Barnes broke a 2-2 tie with a jumper on the next trip down the floor to give Tulane the lead for good. With the victory, the Green Wave run their winning streak to three and improve to 5-2 on the year. Longwood, meanwhile, falls to 2-7.
"For us, we were really trying to use our whole bench and that certainly upsets the flow of the game," Tulane head women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton said. "It was a game that we had in hand most of the time and I think it got a little sloppy because of that. We got some real positives out of this."
Playing in place of the injured Brittany Lindsey, Aidoo hit 6-of-8 shots from the floor, pulled down three rebounds and tallied a trio of steals. She was one of three Green Wave players to finish with double-digit scoring totals as Kaljo had 16 and sophomore center Brett Benzio added 14. Benzio led Tulane with seven rebounds, senior Chassity Brown had a game-best five assists while Barnes posted five steals.
Without Lindsey in the lineup as the junior injured her shoulder in Friday's 67-63 win over Prairie View A&M, the Green Wave had to find a way to replace her 11.5 point-per-game average. The answer for Tulane came from the perimeter as the team tied a season-high with seven 3-pointers. Kaljo, who had struggled to find an open shot in recent games, came up big with three treys and added a season-high five rebounds to go along with three assists and a pair of steals.
"It feels like bricks have just fallen off my shoulders," Kaljo said of her ability to hit from the outside. "I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself, and the girls found me today. That's a tribute to them that they found me, they skipped the ball across and luckily I hit some. It's a great feeling and I'm hoping that when my teammates find me, I'll be able to knock it down."
Barnes' tie-breaking jumper 1:31 into the game sparked a 7-0 Tulane run before the Lancers answered with a 5-0 rally to make it a one-point game at 9-8 with 16:16 to go before halftime. Aidoo scored the game's next eight points on a layup and a pair of 3-pointers, and Benzio followed with back-to-back baskets to stake Tulane to a 20-8 advantage 2:16 later. Tulane led by as many as 16 twice in the opening stanza and the Green Wave went into the locker room at the break on top 34-21.
The Wave scored 12 of the first 18 points of the second half to stretch the lead to 19 at 46-27 and led by as many as 22 twice at 54-32 and 58-36. Longwood made runs from time to time late in the contest, but Tulane hit its open looks when it had to and converted 15-of-19 free throws in the second half to salt the game away.
"I thought it was a good win for us before we go into finals and exams," Aidoo said. "There are some things that we need to work on. Overall, we did well as a team and had some players come back that hadn't played in a while. I thought we did well, but could do better."
Chelsea Coward led Longwood with 12 points while Krystal Garrison and Brittanni Billups added 11 apiece. Heather Tobeck paced the Lancers with a game-high nine rebounds. Becky Fernandes headlined Longwood with four assists and three steals.
The Green Wave return to action on Thursday, Dec. 13, when they travel to Tampa, Fla., to take on USF at 6 p.m. at the Sun Dome. Tulane's next home game is slated for Sunday, Dec. 20, when the Green Wave play host to Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
