Tulane University
8-1
Samford
5-5
Tulane Prevails with Late 58-56 Win Over Samford
Dec 18, 2014 | Women's Basketball
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NEW ORLEANS - After six lead changes and two ties in the second half, the Tulane University women's basketball team (8-1) fought back in the final seconds to emerge with a 58-56 win over Samford (5-5) Thursday night in day one action of the DoubleTree Classic. It was a historic and memorable night for senior guard Danielle Blagg; not only did she score a team high 16 points on 5-for-13, shooting, but also became the 26th Green Wave women's basketball player to reach the 1,000 career point milestone. In addition, it was Blagg in the closing seconds that scored five of the last six points for her squad.
"Overall, I think offensively we struggled tonight," said Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton. "We've had a long layover, but we didn't play as aggressively offensively as we have. Even in the first half, being up seven, we weren't shooting very well. In the second half we went through a drought. That's a tough team to hold down because they can shoot threes and can create some offensive momentum, and when you hit that much of a drought, it's hard to hold them off for so long."
Tulane got off to a cold start, beginning the game 0-5 from the field, as Samford took advantage with a 6-0 early lead. However, the Wave settled in on both sides of the court, countering with a 26-10 run. In fact, the Bulldogs begun the game 3-5 from the field before Tulane's defense held them to five of their next 20.
The Green Wave defense recorded 10 forced turnovers in the first half and capitalized with 14 points off of them. In addition, tonight marked the third time this season Tulane held an opponent to under 20 points, taking a 26-19 lead into halftime.
Danielle Blagg spearheaded the first half attack, scoring the Green Wave's first four points. Then at the 11:48 mark, the San Antonio native hit a trey to move into second place on the all-time career three-pointers list, surpassing Nikki Luckhurt's 193 career three's. Then, with 3:03 left in the first half, Blagg etched her name into history, hitting a mid-range jumper to cross over the 1,000 career point threshold.
After the first four minutes had gone by in the second half, Tulane held a 34-23 lead, but the momentum was about to take a big shift in the Bulldogs favor. Samford rallied with a 19-6 run which featured a pair of three-pointers by Hannah Nichols, and Tiffany Dale and her eight points heading to the bench with four fouls.
With Samford within one (45-44) with 4:22 left, Blagg leapt out of bounds and dished the offensive rebound to Jamie Kaplan, keeping the play alive, who then executed a perfect pass down low to Kolby Morgan for the easy layup.
Later on, down one at 48-47 with 3:21 remaining, Tiffany Dale was inserted back into the lineup and responded in a big way, converting an old-fashioned three point play to reclaim the lead.
Next, Hannah Nichols countered with her fourth three of the night, only to be followed by a Leslie Vorpahl layup. Nichols then countered again with her team leading 14th and final point of the night in the continuous see-saw battle.
As the clock ticked to under a minute with Samford up 53-52, Tulane's defense was holding strong, but Krista Stricklin heaved a desperation three with no time remaining on the shot clock and sunk it.
Now down four with 45 seconds left, Blagg performed some late game heroics, converting a three to pull within one at 56-55. On the ensuing Samford possession, Taylor Reece missed a three-pointer and it was Blagg again who grabbed the clutch rebound and was immediately fouled.
Going to the line for a one-and-one, Blagg delivered through the pressure and connected on both, for the ninth and final lead change of the game. After a Kaplan free throw with one second remaining moved the score to 58-56, Tulane celebrated its eighth victory in nine games.
"When they converted that three, which was an amazing shot, that really put us in a hole," Stockton added. "I felt like we responded very calmly and it was great to see Blagg and Kaplan work together so well and get it done. Obviously, Danielle stepped up and hit some big shots and big free throws."
Both Tiffany Dale and Adesuwa Ebomwonyi totaled 11 points each. Dale shot 5-for-8 from the field and recorded six rebounds and two blocks. Meanwhile, Ebomwonyi grabbed a team high eight boards and three steals.
Tulane returns to action Friday night when they take on Miami (8-2) at 7 p.m. The Hurricanes knocked off UCLA 74-67, in the earlier contest Thursday.
