Jordan has Career Night, but Tulane Falls to UCF, 63-61

Wednesday, February 17

New Orleans, La.

6 PM

Tulane University

14-6,10-5AAC

UCF

11-2,9-1AAC

UCF

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Jordan has Career Night, but Tulane Falls to UCF, 63-61

Feb 17, 2021 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Pierce Feltner

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women's basketball team fell to UCF, 63-61, inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Wednesday. The loss ends a six-game conference winning streak for the Green Wave.

Freshman JerKaila Jordan led the Green Wave with a career-high 28 points. She was 9-17 from the field, 4-9 from three and 6-8 from the free throw line. Jordan added six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Her heroic efforts tie senior Arsula Clark's 28 points for the most points scored by a Tulane player this season.

Tulane (14-6, 10-5) held a 45-33 rebound advantage over UCF (11-2, 9-1), but the Knights outshot the Green Wave 39.3-36.2 percent. The Olive and Blue struggled at the free throw line only connecting on 56.5 (13-23) percent, while UCF was 66.7 (12-18) percent from the charity stripe. Tulane registered 13 assists, 17 points off turnovers and 17 points on the fast break.

Both teams traded blows to open the second half. The Knights then used a 4-0 run to close the third and take a 51-39 lead into the fourth. Tulane held the Knights scoreless for the first 6:06 of the fourth quarter. The Green Wave took advantage and went on a 9-0 run to narrow the gap to three at 51-48. UCF came back with a 6-0 run of their own to extend its lead to 57-48 with 3:23 to play in the game.

With two minutes left, senior Krystal Freeman hit a baseline jumper to end the Knights' run. After two missed free throws from UCF, sophomore Dynah Jones knocked down a three at the top of the key to make the score 57-54 with just over a minute to play. Tulane forced a missed shot from the Knights on the next possession but were unable to score on the next possession.

The Green Wave forced a turnover on the ensuing UCF inbounds pass but were unable to capitalize on offense. UCF hit two free throws on its next possession then Jones hit an and-one layup to put the Green Wave down 59-56 with 22 seconds to play. The Knights knocked down two more at the charity stripe then sophomore Salma Bates hit a layup between two defenders to keep the Olive and Blue down two.

The Knights hit two more free throws then Bates responded with a three with two seconds left to put the Green Wave down 63-61. Tulane kept up defensive intensity and forced UCF into a bad pass. Jones picked up the ball and had a chance to hit a three at the buzzer. The shot did not go down and the Green Wave fell 63-61 to UCF.

Alisha Lewis led UCF with 16 points, four assists and two steals. Masseny Kaba added 13 points and six rebounds for the Knights. UCF scored 24 points in the paint, 17 points off turnovers and 24 points off the bench.

The Knights jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the first quarter. The Green Wave then went on an 8-2 run, with Jordan scoring all eight, to cut it to 13-11 with three minutes left in the first. UCF added four points, while Tulane scored two in the closing minutes to make the score 17-13 going into the second quarter.

The Green Wave and the Knights traded buckets throughout the second quarter with neither side making more than a 4-0 run through the first seven minutes of the quarter. The Knights then went on a 6-0 run, but the Olive and Blue responded with a 5-0 run to close the half. UCF led 35-28 at the break.

At the half, Jordan led all scorers with 21 points. She also added four rebounds and two steals, while shooting 7-13 from the field and 3-7 from three. Tulane held a 22-16 rebounding advantage, but the Knights led in field goal percentage (.448-.357) and 3-point field goal percentage (.400-.188). UCF also had 18 points off the bench in the first half with the majority coming from Courtajia Sanders' 10 points.

The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 20, as they travel to play No. 12 USF. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT in Tampa.

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