Tulane Green Wave Women’s Basketball Rallies to Defeat North Texas
The Tulane Green Wave women’s basketball team broke a tie with three minutes left in the fourth quarter and held off North Texas to claim a 65-62 victory in American Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Green Wave (10-5, 3-1 in American) were coming off a double-digit loss to Charlotte and were up against a UNT (11-5, 3-1) team that hadn’t suffered a conference loss entering the game.
The Green Wave are off to their best four-game AAC start since 2019-20 (6-0).
Down the stretch, Tulane’s Sherese Pittman was the star of the show.
North Texas had a five-point lead with 4:13 remaining. From there, Pittman made a jumper, drew a foul and followed it with a free throw to cut the lead to two points. Tulane then tied the game at 60-60 on another Pittman basket, which came off a UNT turnover.
North Texas turned the ball over again on the next possession. The Green Wave’s Kyren Whittington stole the ball and passed it to Sadie Shores, who went in for a fast break lay-up with 2:34 left to take the lead.
The Green Wave added to it with another jumper from Pittman with 1:19 left, pushing them ahead by four points.
North Texas cut the lead to two points with six seconds left on a lay-up by Jaaucklyn Moore. UNT fouled Pittman, who made one of two free throws to give Tulane a three-point lead. Moore missed a 3-pointer with a second left that would have tied the game.
North Texas’ five-point lead before Tulane’s run was its biggest of the game. Meanwhile, Tulane led the game by 18 points late in the second quarter, 40-22.
UNT got back into the game with an incredible third quarter, outscoring Tulane 24-8.
Tulane shot 40% from the floor, 23% from the 3-point line and 71% from the free-throw line. UNT shot 38% from the floor, 24% from the 3-point line and 71% from the free-throw line. Tulane only committed 12 turnovers to North Texas’ 18, and Tulane turned those turnovers into 28 points.
Pittman finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. Whittington added 15 points, four rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Moore poured in 23 for UNT, along with nine rebounds and four assists. Desiree Wooten and Ereauna Hardaway each had 10 points. Hardaway had six rebounds and three steals.
Tulane travels to East Carolina for a game at 1 p.m. central on Saturday.
