Women’s Basketball Preview: Juniors
Nov 23, 2020 | Women's Basketball
The juniors returning for the Tulane women’s basketball team made major contributions for the Green Wave in their sophomore year. Erin Gutierrez, Mia Heide, and Dynah Jones have used the summer to improve their games in order to make bigger contributions in the 2020-21 season.
Gutierrez averaged 2.0 points and 1.5 assists in 11 appearances last season. She made big contributions in Puerto Rico as she scored six and seven points against Boston College and Charlotte, respectively. Gutierrez added two steals and two assists against Charlotte. The 5-9 guard logged at least two assists in seven of her 11 appearances. She grabbed a season-high two rebounds in the regular season finale win over Temple.
Again, Erin is someone who has a lot of minutes. We are really trying to pick up our tempo and I think that is her style of play. We will see how that happens with her.Tulane Women's Basketball Head Coach, Lisa Stockton
Heide was a regular contributor for the Green Wave last season as she started 22 of the 31 games. She was second on the team as she averaged 6.0 rebounds per game and led the squad with 56 blocks on the season. The 6-3 forward closed the season second in the AAC and 51st in the nation in blocks per game at 1.9. She blocked a career-high five shots on three occasions last season. She had a career day with 14 rebound in the win over Cincinnati. She played the role of distributor with four assists in wins over Tulsa and UCF. Heide added a career-high 12 points against Alabama. The Austin, Texas, native also recorded seven points and 13 rebounds against Houston. She helped Tulane beat Tulsa in the AAC Tournament with eight points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists.
We have done a lot with Mia in the past. She can be someone that we can run the offense through. I do not think there are many people in our league who are her size who can move like she can. We know that she is a very good defensive player, but she also has the ability to run end-to-end and again find people. She was elected captain this year. I think she is a steady person and a steady force for us. Toward the end of last year, she really became comfortable and really came into her own. We felt like she was really critical for our defense. I think we are going to expect her to do a lot to defend the goal.Tulane Women's Basketball Head Coach, Lisa Stockton
Jones was the first player in program history to be named the American Athletic Conference Sixth Player of the Year. She appeared in every game last season and averaged 5.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists. Jones scored in double-digits on seven occasions. She had a career-high 17 points in the five-point win over Cincinnati. The 5-9 guard dished out a career-high five assists at ECU. Jones had 13 points and four rebounds at Cincinnati in the second meeting between the teams. She added 12 points, three rebounds and one assist in Puerto Rico against Boston College. Jones logged 10 points and four rebounds in the win over UCF followed by 12 points and four rebounds at South Florida. She recorded nine points and two rebounds in the third meeting with USF.
Dynah is really a matchup problem for anyone. She is so strong and so explosive. She probably has the most minutes of anyone on our team, so she is definitely going to be really important in that. You talk about being able to guard people on the perimeter and rebounding, and I think that is going to be crucial for her. She is shooting better than she has consistently in practice. She is really doing a good job of shooting and scoring. I think Dynah will definitely play a role. Again, with the way we are playing, she can play a lot of different positions that we might not have had last year. I think that is going to open some things up for her too.Tulane Women's Basketball Head Coach, Lisa Stockton
The Green Wave will tip-off the 2020 season Wednesday, Nov. 25, against Nicholls State at 7 p.m. in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
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