Women's Basketball Off to Houston for Wednesday Afternoon Test

GAME 26: TULANE GREEN WAVE (15-10, 5-7) at HOUSTON COUGARS (13-11, 7-5)
When:	Wednesday, February 20 \| 12 p.m. CST
Where:	Houston \| Fertitta Center
Watch:	ESPN3
Radio:	WRBH 88.3 FM \| Listen Online
Live Scoring:	Sidearm Stats
Notes:	Tulane \| Houston
Social:	@GreenWaveWBB

NEW ORLEANS – Tulane will hit the road again this week for a matinee against Houston on Wednesday. The Cougars and Green Wave are set for a noon tipoff at the Fertitta Center with Tulane looking to break a two-game losing streak to Houston. The game will air live on ESPN3.

STARTING FIVE

Tulane will head to Houston to play its first road game in 10 days on Wednesday after falling at home to Memphis on Saturday. Tulane has lost four of its last five games by an average of 4.5 points.
Krystal Freeman was named to the conference Honor Roll on Monday for the fourth time this season. She had a career-high 25 points against UCF on Wednesday in a victory and averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last week.
Mia Heide had her first career start on Saturday and made the most of it, posting career highs with 10 points, five made field goals and three blocks.
The Green Wave's 3-point defense has been excellent in 2018-19 as the team is allowing opponents to shoot just .253 from the line. That's the fifth-best opponent 3-point percentage in the country this year.
Tulane's underclassmen have combined for 67 percent of Green Wave scoring, 64 percent of Tulane minutes, 74 percent of Tulane's assists and 54 percent of the team rebounding.

SERIES HISTORY – HOUSTON

The Cougars and Green Wave are longtime rivals with Tulane holding a 28-15 edge in the all-time series.
Houston has prevailed recently, though, winning both games last season by scores of 98-92 in overtime and 72-48 in Houston.
Before losing both games to Houston last year, Tulane had defeated the Cougars seven consecutive times in the prior four years. Tulane also had an eight-game winning streak against Houston that spanned from 1979-2000.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS

The Cougars, based in Houston, Texas, hold a 13-11 record so far this year and are 7-4 in the league. Houston sits fourth in the conference standings with its four losses coming to UConn, UCF, Cincinnati and Temple.
Houston is led on offense by Jasmyne Harris and her 16.2 points per game. She is joined in double-figure scoring by Angela Harris and Dorian Branch.
Serithia Hawkins is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 7.5 boards per game. Angela Harris leads the way in passing with 66 assists, and Octavia Barnes is a lights-out 3-point shooter with a .486 percentage this season (34-70).
Houston is a great stealing team, averaging 10.2 steals per game to rank 34th in the country in that category.

A QUARTER CENTURY WITH COACH
Now in her 25th year with the Green Wave women's basketball program in 2018-19, it's hard to imagine anyone else at the helm besides Coach Lisa Stockton. Her numbers are staggering: three different conferences, four conference tournament championships, two conference regular-season championships, six All-Americans, 11 NCAA Tournament berths, seven WNIT spots and a boatload of wins. No one in the history of Tulane women's basketball is even close to Stockton's career numbers.

#LOCKEDINFORSTOCKTON
With a victory over Nicholls on December 4, Coach Lisa Stockton recorded her 500th victory at Tulane. In her 25 years with the Green Wave, Stockton is averaging 20 wins per season – and rising. She is currently the nation's 10th-longest tenured coach at a D1 school. She has more than eight times as many wins as the second-place coach in program history (Joline Matsunami, 1985-90, 60 wins). She was honored for her 500th win on January 26 against Wichita State.

UNDERCLASSMEN OVERPERFORMING
Tulane's roster is seeing a youth movement this year 2018-19 with underclassmen getting a supermajority of minutes played, points scored and assists. Freshmen and sophomores have combined for 67 percent of Green Wave scoring, 64 percent of Tulane minutes and 74 percent of Tulane's assists. Tulane's underclassmen have also contributed 52 percent of the team rebounding.

FREEMAN MAKING THE LEAP
Krystal Freeman is undeniably a candidate for The American's Most Improved Player Award this season. Averaging 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game as a freshman, she has improved those numbers to 13.8 and 7.5, respectively, leading Tulane in both categories. She has compiled seven double-doubles this season after none as a freshman, and she has been named the league's Player of the Week twice and to the Honor Roll four times. Freeman has now recorded double-figure scoring in 20 of Tulane's 25 games this year and has reached 15 points in 13 games.

THE HONORABLE KRYSTAL FREEMAN
For the fourth time this season, Krystal Freeman was named to the American Athletic Conference's honor roll following another stellar week for the sophomore. She scored a career-high 25 points for another double-double as Tulane pulled the upset in defeating UCF on Wednesday. On Saturday against Memphis, Freeman nearly had another double-double when she put up 10 points and nine rebounds against the Tigers. For the week, Freeman averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting .516 from the field. She also had a career-high three blocks against UCF.

JONES LEADS THE WAY
Freshman Dynah Jones had a team-high 17 points when the team played Memphis on Saturday, shooting 6 of 13 from the field for the Green Wave. Jones also filled the stat sheet with a career-high seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jones is on quite a tear lately since re-entering the starting lineup at Memphis on January 30. In her six games since then, Jones has started five times and scored in double figures three times. She is averaging 7.8 points per game so far this season to place third on the team, but in the last five games she has averaged 11.2 points per game.

BLOCK PARTY
Tulane tied its season high with 11 blocks on Saturday against Memphis with Sierra Cheatham leading Tulane with a career-high five blocks. The Green Wave's 11 total blocks tied for the seventh-best game in team history. Besides Cheatham's five blocks, the Green Wave got three blocks from Mia Heide, two from Harlyn Wyatt and one from Meredith Schule.

HEIDE HEIDE HEIDE HIGHS
Freshman Mia Heide got her first career start on Saturday against Memphis and made the most of it, setting a new career high with 10 points, five made field goals and three blocks. Heide had previously scored 8 points in four different games and never had more than two blocks.

CHEATHAM BACK ON TRACK
Sierra Cheatham had an incredible fourth quarter for Tulane on Saturday against Memphis, helping Tulane nearly pull off a gigantic comeback. Cheatham scored 11 points in the fourth quarter including 9 points on three 3-pointers, her largest 3-point output since January 8 at Temple. Cheatham leads Tulane with 44 made 3-pointers this season.

CLOSE CALLS
Though Tulane has lost four of its five games, most of those losses have been incredibly close. The Green Wave's average margin of defeat in its last four losses is just 4.5 points per game. Tulane lost to ECU by just 2, to USF and Tulsa by 5 points apiece and to Memphis by 6 points.

THREE-POINT DEFENSE
The Green Wave have done an excellent job defending the 3-point line this season. Tulane opponents are shooting just .253 from downtown this year, a number that puts Tulane fifth in the country. The Green Wave have allowed opponents to make 30 percent or more of their 3-pointers just seven times so far this year and have held opponents under 20 percent from long range five times.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Memphis:

Tatyana Lofton scored her 250th point.
Kaila Anderson grabbed her 100th rebound.

Coming up soon:

Kaila Anderson will reach 200 points with 2 more.
Kayla Manuirirangi is one made 3-pointer shy of 100.
Meredith Schulte's 100th career free throw will occur when she makes two more.
Krystal Freeman is 14 points shy of 400.
Harlyn Wyatt is 12 points away from 700.
Dynah Jones needs 4 more points for 200.

NEXT UP
Tulane will honor its senior on Sunday when SMU comes to Fogelman in Devlin. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game will air live on Cox Sports TV.

Women's Basketball Off to Houston for Wednesday Afternoon Test

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Players Mentioned

Kaila Anderson

Sierra Cheatham

Krystal Freeman

Mia Heide

Dynah Jones

Tatyana Lofton

Kayla Manuirirangi

Meredith Schulte

Harlyn Wyatt

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Tulane University Athletics

Women's Basketball Off to Houston for Wednesday Afternoon Test

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kaila Anderson

Sierra Cheatham

Krystal Freeman

Mia Heide

Dynah Jones

Tatyana Lofton

Kayla Manuirirangi

Meredith Schulte

Harlyn Wyatt

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