Tulane University
UCF
Women's Hoops Wins 'Barnes' Burner At UCF, 72-70
Jan 31, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2010
Highlights 
Final Stats | Quotes
ORLANDO, Fla. - For the Tulane University women's basketball team, Sunday afternoon's Conference USA showdown against the UCF Knights seemed to be governed more by Edward Murphy of Murphy's Law fame than the rulebook by the sport's inventor, James Naismith back in 1891.
In the end, however, the Green Wave followed the directions of Dylan Thomas and "Did Not Go Gently Into That Good (K)night" as Tulane came away from UCF Arena with a hard-fought 72-70 victory.
The Green Wave had two players - junior forwards Tiffany Aidoo and Danielle Nunn - foul out, senior guard Chassity Brown missed the final 7:47 with a hand injury, and the team trailed by double digits at 65-55 with 5:00 left in regulation. Junior point guard Roshaunda Barnes, meanwhile, scored 11 of her career-high 25 points in the closing minutes of the contest to help the Green Wave improve to 16-4 overall and 5-2 in C-USA action. UCF, meanwhile, falls to 4-12 on the year and 1-6 in league action.
"Her 25 points were just incredible," Tulane head women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton said of Barnes. "It just goes to show you that sometimes it's Tiffany Aidoo, sometimes it's Chassity and sometimes it's Danielle. Today, she wasn't going to be denied.
"Roshaunda had to make some big plays at the end to get us back in the game and give us a chance to win with two players on the bench after fouling out and another out with an injury. We still had plenty of time on clock and we had to take it one possession at a time rather than look at the whole 10 points."
Barnes was one of four Tulane players to finish with double-digit scoring totals after connecting on 7-of-11 shots from the field, including a 3-of-4 showing from beyond the 3-point arc. Senior guard Indira Kaljo was next with 11 points, including a 3-of-4 showing of her own from 3-point land, while Aidoo and Brown finished with 10 each. Freshman forward Janique Kautsky lead Tulane on the glass, tying her career high with six rebounds, while Barnes led the Wave with four assists and three steals.
As a team, the Green Wave hit 47.7 percent of their shots and buried a season-best nine 3-pointers in 12 tries. UCF, meanwhile, hit 40.3 percent of its attempts and out-rebounded Tulane 38-28, including an 18-7 margin on the offensive glass. The Knights turned the offensive boards into 14 second-chance points and used their size inside to out-score Tulane in the paint, 26-18.
The difference in the ballgame, however, was Barnes. Trailing by 10, the junior point guard found Aidoo open for a 3-pointer to cut the lead to seven and sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around two free throws to cut the deficit to one at 67-66 with 2:37 left to play. A free throw by UCF's Ashia Kelly pushed the Knights' lead back to two before Barnes hit a layup to tie the score at 68-all.
An Aisha Patrick basket and a pair of Barnes free throws re-tied the game at 70-all with 1:12 left to play. From there, it was Barnes' defense that helped Tulane score what proved to be the final points of the game. With 52 ticks left on the clock, Barnes picked off a D'Nay Daniels pass and beat the UCF defense down the court for an uncontested layup.
The Knights still had a chance to tie the game or take the lead with a 3-pointer, but the Green Wave defense held UCF to an 0-for-4 shooting performance over the final 49 seconds to spark the Tulane celebration.
"Normally, our defense has been able to hold in last-minute situations throughout the season and we struggled today in the last five minutes," Stockton said. "(Barnes) was guarding (Chelsie) Wiley at the end of the game, and we knew that was who they really wanted to go to. She wasn't going to let (Wiley) have a look and I really trusted that (Barnes) was going to stay on that. If there is a play of the game, that steal was the play of the game."
Barnes scored the game's first points and a Brown layup broke a 2-2 tie to give the Green Wave the lead for the remainder of the half. The two teams traded the next 14 points to make it a 13-9 ballgame before a Barnes 3-pointer sparked a 6-0 Green Wave rally to extend the lead to double digits.
Tulane led by as many as 14 at 37-23 with 1:54 left before the break, but the Knights scored the stanza's final six points to make it a 37-29 affair at halftime. It remained an eight-point game two minutes into the second half but an Angelica Mealing jumper sparked a 31-13 UCF run over the next 11:39 to put the Knight's up by 10 with five minutes to play and set up Barnes' late-game heroics.
"I just didn't want to lose," Barnes said. "I owed it to my teammates who got into foul trouble earlier to go in and do what I can to get a win. We keep playing until the clock says zero."
Wiley and Marshay White tied for UCF's scoring lead at 14 each, while Daniels, Mealing and Patrick finished with 12 apiece. Daniels led all players with nine rebounds, as did Mealing in assists with five. Day and Gevenia Carter tied for the team lead in steals with two.
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Feb. 5, when they play host to Tulsa at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. The Tulane/Tulsa contest is the first of two home games for the Wave that weekend as the girls in olive green and sky blue will take on SMU on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m. For ticket information to next week's games, or any future Green Wave athletics events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
