Tulane University
Tulsa
Women's Basketball Survives C-USA Foe Tulsa, 58-55
Jan 15, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2010
TULSA, Okla. - It wasn't always pretty, but for the Tulane University women's basketball team, the end sure was sweet as the Green Wave survived a tough challenge from Conference USA foe Tulsa, 58-55, Friday evening in the Donald Reynolds Center.
The Green Wave (13-3, 2-1 C-USA) led 53-43 with 2:46 left to play only to see the Golden Hurricane (6-8, 0-3 C-USA) rally with a 10-0 run to tie the score 1:16 later. A pair of free throws by junior point guard Roshaunda Barnes put Tulane back on top and a free throw by Tulsa's Kara Vaughn made it a one-point affair.
Tulane had a chance to create some separation later, but missed a pair of freebies to give the Hurricane possession and a chance to win with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Barnes, however, knocked the ball loose from Jermaine Kermis, gathered the rock and nailed two more shots from the charity stripe to account for the final score.
"It was an ugly game," Tulane head women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton said. "When you look at the stats with one team having 29 turnovers and the other having 27, you know it's an ugly, ugly game.
"We've won 13 games so far this year. People are going to come at us and we've got to be stronger than that and tougher than that. I thought Tulsa played a good game. They're very physical and they made us better tonight. I think we're a better team leaving here."
Senior guard Chassity Brown, who missed the last two games after breaking her non-shooting hand in practice last Thursday, came off the bench to score all 15 of her points in the second half to lead the Wave while Barnes had 11 and junior forward Danielle Nunn added 10. Nunn paced the team with nine rebounds and Barnes added five assists and four steals.
After shooting 28.6 percent from the field, hitting just eight baskets and turning the ball over 17 times in the first half, the Green Wave connected at a 44.4 clip (12-of-27) and posted seven assists and steals in the final 20 minutes. The Tulane defense, meanwhile, held Tulsa to a 29.6 field goal percentage (16-of-54), including a 25.9 clip (7-of-27) in the second half.
The Green Wave hit three of their first four shots to open the game and a Brett Benzio jumper tied the contest at 10-all 3:12 into the ballgame. From there, however, Tulane managed to connect on just four of its next 22 tries. Tulsa did not fare much better, hitting 9-of-27 shots in the opening stanza and went into the locker room at the break on top, 28-23.
Tulane scored 16 of the first 18 points of the second half to take a 39-30 advantage with 10:49 left to play. Up 10 just over eight minutes later, the Green Wave did not hit a field goal the rest of the way. Tulsa, meanwhile, got back-to-back baskets by Taleya Mayberry and four free throws by Larrissa Williams to make it a 53-49 contest. A Barnes free throw put Tulane up three, but the Golden Hurricane's Tatum Beer connected on a 3-pointer to tie the game at 54-all and set up the late-game dramatics.
Even after Barnes' final two points Tulsa still had a chance to at least tie the game. The Tulane defense, however, denied the ball to the Golden Hurricane perimeter shooters and Tulsa would settle for a Williams layup attempt, which wound up rolling in and out.
"That's an advantage of having a four-guard lineup out there," Stockton said. "You can switch out on screens and Brett even switched out on a guard and was a big presence there. We felt like if they made a two, we were going to leave it in the basket and let it go. The other ones, they can hit the three and we didn't want to give them a look."
Williams led all players with 16 points, including a 12-of-14 performance from the charity stripe, while Mayberry joined the double-digit club with 10 points of her own on 5-of-11 shooting. Teka Brooks paced Tulsa with seven rebounds and three assists while Williams, Mayberry, Kermis and Beer had two steals each.
The Green Wave return to action on Sunday, Jan. 17, when they travel to Dallas to take on SMU at 2 p.m. From there, Tulane returns home for a Saturday, Jan. 23, showdown against Southern Miss at 2 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
