Women's Hoops Comes Back from 15-Point Deficit for Win vs. Cleveland State

Saturday, November 24

San Diego, Calif.

4 p.m.

Tulane University

4-1

Cleveland State

3-4

Cleveland State

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Women's Hoops Comes Back from 15-Point Deficit for Win vs. Cleveland State

Nov 24, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SAN DIEGO – The Green Wave struggled in the first half on Saturday afternoon.

In the second, well, they did not.

Trailing Cleveland State by as many as 15 points early in the third quarter, the Green Wave would eventually outscore the Vikings 50-30 in the second half to pick up an 81-72 victory at Jenny Craig Pavilion in the University of San Diego Thanksgiving Tournament.

Tulane (4-1) saw Cleveland State (3-3) get out to a huge lead as the Vikings shot 69 percent from the field in the first half. But that number plummeted back to Earth in the second half when Cleveland State made just 26 percent of its field goals.

The Vikings' poor second-half shooting combined with a resurgent Green Wave offense helped Tulane overcome that 15-point deficit very quickly, as the team tied the game toward the end of the third quarter.

Cleveland State scored the next 5 points after Tulane tied it to take a 61-56 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but the Green Wave went on a 16-2 run over the next seven minutes to put the game out of reach.

Tulane got terrific contributions from everyone on the court, but Krystal Freeman led the way with a career-high 22 points. Sierra Cheatham was also in double figures with 15 points, and Erin Gutierrez had a career-best 14 points including a 7-of-8 performance from the free-throw line in the closing minutes.

Freeman also posted Tulane's first double-double of the season, adding a career-high 11 rebounds to her 22 points. Harlyn Wyatt scored 8 points and had a big hand in the third-quarter turnaround with 5 points in that quarter and finished with six rebounds as well.

Sophomore Kaila Anderson led the way with five assists while Cheatham snagged a career-high six steals.

Cleveland State had its way on offense in the first half, shooting 69 percent from the field and putting up 42 points. Tulane wasn't able to keep up despite 12 first-half points from Freeman, and the Vikings took a 42-31 lead into halftime.

But in the third quarter, that all changed.

The Vikings made it a 50-35 lead with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter. That would be their last field goal of the period until the right before the buzzer. Cheatham, Wyatt and Kayla Manuirirangi scored 7 straight Tulane points after that, and following two free throws from Mariah Miller that made it 52-42 for Cleveland State, Tulane went on a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 54-52. That seven-minute stretch marked a 19-2 run for the Green Wave.

Wyatt had 7 of her 8 points in that run, birthday girl Tatyana Lofton hit two free throws and Cheatham knocked down a 3-pointer that rallied the Green Wave back into the lead.

That trend continued when the fourth quarter started, as Cleveland State continued to miss shots and turn the ball over. With Cleveland State on top 63-62, Tulane then went on another huge 10-0 run with two baskets from Freeman and one apiece from Cheatham, Gutierrez and Lofton.

That 10-0 run put Tulane ahead 72-63 with 2:42 left in the game, and it was all but over from there.

After a poor shooting first half, Tulane finished the day shooting 39 percent from the field. And after starting with a 69 percent effort in the first, Cleveland's game total wound up dropping to just 47 percent. The Vikings also cost themselves with 23 turnovers that became 24 points for Tulane, and the Green Wave's bench contributed 25 points to the winning effort.

Tulane was also excellent on the offensive glass, bringing down 19 offensive boards that resulted in 15 second-chance points.

Up next for Tulane will be a three-game home stretch featuring games against FAU, Southern Miss and Nicholls. First up at Fogelman in Devlin on Wednesday is the FAU Owls. Tipoff between the two sides is set for 7 p.m.