Tulane University
Mississippi Valley State
Tulane Opens with 87-47 Victory over MVSU
Nov 14, 2014 | Women's Basketball
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NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane women's basketball team (1-0) kicked off the `new era' with a bang in front of the home crowd inside Devlin Fieldhouse Friday night, rolling to an 87-47 victory over Mississippi Valley State (0-1). The Green Wave's 87 points was the most in an opener since Nov. 10, 2000, when Tulane defeated Grambling 92-64.
In addition, Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton is now 17-4 in season openers, with a perfect 12-0 mark at home. Tonight's victory also marked the 10th consecutive win on opening day for the Green Wave and the second straight in which they tallied 80+ points.
"For the first game I thought our effort was tremendous. We played a lot of players and got great energy from our bench," Stockton stated. "We got in foul trouble in the first half and had three post players on the bench and had people playing out of position but still did a nice job. Then in the second half we came out with a lot of energy. I'm really happy overall with the effort."
The Green and Blue jumped out to a quick start with a 9-0 run to begin the game, with four different players contributing points. Mississippi Valley State then fought back and crept within one point at the 11:08 mark, however, the 13-12 score happened to be the closest the Devilettes got within the Green Wave the entire game.
Next, Tulane countered by holding the Devilettes scoreless for the ensuing four and half minutes, jumping out to a 25-12 lead. The Green and Blue then went into the locker room at half with a 38-24 lead. When the Green Wave started the second, they never looked back, utilizing a great defensive effort to capture all of the momentum, creating 20 turnovers in the period. In fact, Mississippi Valley State's 32 total turnovers were the most created by Tulane since Dec. 11, 2011, vs Southern (32).
Furthermore, the Green Wave's 20 steals tied for the sixth most in a single game. Couple that with the fact that Tulane shot .563 from the field in the second half, outscoring the Devilettes 49-23. In fact, thirty-two of their 49 points that period were scored off of turnovers and 16 from the fast break.
"We felt like we could mix things up defensively, and create some offense off of our defense," Stockton explained. "We started off the half struggling to score at times, but then we got some run-outs and some lay-ups and built some confidence that way. I thought that really changed the momentum of the game."
Tulane's homecoming weekend also started off with some appropriate local flair, as freshman and New Orleans product Kolby Morgan debuted with a team high 16 points on 7-11 shooting from the floor. Seniors Jamie Kaplan and Danielle Blagg also registered double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
In all, Tulane totaled 47 bench points in tonight's victory, spreading the wealth amongst 11 different players.
"It was exciting. I thought we had a really great crowd tonight," Jamie Kaplan said. "I thought we brought a lot of energy in the second half and we all fed off of that. You could see by the score that we just took it and ran with it."
Up next, Tulane immediately hits the road to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for a 2 p.m. showdown inside Burton Coliseum vs. a McNeese State squad that finished 19-14 last season. That game can be heard live on WRBH 88.3 FM radio.
