Women’s Basketball Wins Tulane Holiday Tournament

Thursday, December 21

1:30 p.m.

Tulane University

7-4,0-0AAC

University of Maine

7-6,0-0America East

Maine

Tulane

2023 Tournament Champions - WBB_Holiday_Tournament

Photo by: Parker Waters

Women’s Basketball Wins Tulane Holiday Tournament

Dec 21, 2023 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

New Orleans – Kyren Whittington tallied a team-high 19 points to lead Tulane's women's basketball team (7-4) to the Tulane Holiday Tournament title with a 64-61 victory over Maine (7-6) on Thursday at Devlin Fieldhouse. The victory was the fourth straight for the Green Wave.

Whittington shot 8-for-14 from the field, 2-for-3 from three-point range plus hit a free throw in scoring her 19 points. She also had four steals and three assists. Marta Galic continued her strong tournament play with 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block. Hannah Pratt reached double figures with 10 points. She also had seven rebounds and a steal. Irina Parau tallied 11 rebounds to go along with five points, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Kayla Rainey recorded a game-high nine assists to go along with eight points. Amira Mabry totaled four points, five rebounds, an assist and two blocks. Chiara Grattini picked up an offensive rebound.

Maine was led by 25 points from Adrianna Smith. Anne Simon tallied 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Black Bears.

The game was a wire-to-wire victory for Tulane although it was close in the second half after the Green Wave had built up an early 16-point lead in the first quarter. Tulane's best run was 9-0 in the first quarter. Maine's best run was 9-0 early in the fourth quarter. Tulane shot 44.1 percent from the field (26-for-59), 35.7 percent from three-point range (10-for-28) and 50 percent from the line (2-for-4). The Green Wave totaled 35 rebounds, 18 assists, seven steals and six blocks.

Maine shot 44.4 percent from the field (24-for-54), 35.3 percent from three-point range (6-for-17) and 63.6 percent from the free throw line (7-for-11). The Black Bears recorded 25 rebounds, 12 assists, seven steals and a block.

Tulane started the game on a 7-0 run and led 21-9 after the first quarter. Maine fought back a bit in the second to close the gap at the break, 36-27. Tulane extended the lead by a point in the third, 53-43. The fourth quarter is where things started to get interesting with Maine closing to within a two-points twice with the last time being with just five seconds remaining in the game. Tulane's Parau was then fouled and calmly knocked down one of two free throws to give Tulane a final 64-61 margin of victory.

Next, Tulane starts American Athletic Conference (AAC) play and travels to take on Wichita State on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.

Notables:
Kyren Whittington passed the 1,000 career point mark with her three in the first quarter…The win was the fourth straight for Tulane which equals the longest winningest streak for the program since February of last season (Feb. 12-25)…The victory improved Tulane to 4-1 all-time against Maine….Marta Galic was named the MVP of the Tulane Holiday Tournament…Her MVP performance was the second straight year (Rachel Hakes – 2022) and the 20th time overall that a Tulane player has been named MVP of the tournament…Galic averaged 21 points and five rebounds a contest in the two games this year…The tournament title was the 21st time that Tulane has secured the crown including the second straight season and the 12th time since 2008…Whittington's 18 points was her 10th time in 11 games in double figures…Kaylah Rainey tied her season-best with eight points and set a new best effort on the year with nine assists…In addition to Galic being named MVP of the tournament, Whittington also was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 17 points a game over the course of the two games…Irina Parau's 11 rebounds were a season-best and the second time she has reached double figures in rebounds this season.

2023 Tulane Holiday All-Tournament Team
Marta Galic – Tulane (MVP)
Kyren Whittington – Tulane
Anne Simon – Maine
Faith Lee – Little Rock
Megan McConnell - Duquesne

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