Tulane University
21-9
Houston
6-24
Women's Hoops Downs Houston, 64-39
Mar 6, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Printable Box| Photo Gallery| Tulane Press Conference
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - The sixth-seeded Tulane women's basketball team (21-9) made its American Conference Tournament debut in dominant fashion, cruising to a 64-39 win over 11th-seed Houston in the first round. As a result, head coach Lisa Stockton earned her 500th career win.
"I was really happy with the intensity we came out with tonight," Coach Stockton said. "That's what we really preached going in, is that we wanted effort, and we had great defensive intensity. Different players stepped up and put the ball in the basket."
Tulane came out firing on both ends of the court. Offensively, the Green Wave connected on eight of their first 15 shots as seven different players had registered a bucket by the 7:20 mark. In addition, the Wave finished the half on a 12-0 run to take a 30-10 lead at the midway point, a run that also featured an individual 9-0 run by Courtnie Latham.
Thus, by holding Houston to just 10 points in the first period, Tulane recorded its best defensive half all year. The Cougars managed only one field goal for the first 13 minutes of the game, and was 3-for-23 at halftime.
The Green Wave remained hot in the second half as they shot 46.4 percent over the final 20 minutes. Up 42-22 at 13:09, the Wave cranked out a 13-2 scoring stretch which was powered by an 8-0 combined run from Adesuwa Ebomwonyi and Tierra Jones.
Freshman Caylah Cruickshank got in on the scoring fun as well producing a season high six points on a 6-0 run of her own to extend the Green Wave's lead to 61-27. Cruickshank was the ninth and final different player to score in the game.
Ultimately, the Wave closed out the 64-39 win, which marked the lowest points total Tulane has held Houston in their 37-game series history against each other. This season, the Olive and Blue went 3-0 against the Cougars and won by a combined margin of 197-125.
Latham tied her career best with 14 points tonight on 4-for-8 shooting. Chinwe Duru tied her career high in blocks with four to go along with her eight points. Furthermore, Ebomwonyi tied her season high of three steals while Jamie Kaplan led the Wave in assists for the 19th time this season with four today.
Up next, Tulane gets its revenge match against the third-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The two squads played each other just last Saturday, with Tulsa getting a late 55-52 win. The quarterfinal matchup will tip-off at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN3.
