Tulane Green Wave Suffer First Conference Loss of Basketball Season
The Tulane Green Wave women’s basketball team was buried by a fourth-quarter deluge by the Rice Owls as they suffered their first conference defeat, 72-64, on Thursday.
The game was close going into the fourth quarter, as Tulane had a 46-39 lead. But the Owls (8-6, 1-1 in AAC) went off in the fourth quarter, scoring 33 points and finishing the game on a run in which they made 10 of their last 12 field goals.
Rice’s Malia Fisher, who finished with 21 points, and Dominique Ennis, who had 18 points, combined for 39 of the Owls’ points. Fisher also had eight rebounds.
It was simply too much for the Green Wave (8-5, 1-1) to keep up with. Tulane finished the game making one of its last nine field goal attempts.
Before that, Tulane had control of the game. In fact, the Green Wave led at halftime, 28-20, after Rice only scored five points in the second quarter. Tulane led for more than 31 minutes of the game and by as much as 11 points.
Rice only shot 42% for the game, but in the fourth quarter that percentage shot up to 74% (10-of-14), which included four 3-pointers. Tulane shot 33% for the game but fell to 27.3% (6-of-22) in the final quarter.
The Owls also got plenty of second chances, as they outrebounded the Green Wave, 46-31, but it only led to 11 second-chance points. Rice committed 23 turnovers to Tulane’s 17, but the Green Wave only turned those mistakes into 14 points.
Tulane’s Amira Mabry scored 21 points, her third straight game of 20 or more points and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Kendall Sneed added 17 points for the Green Wave before she fouled out.
Kyren Whittington reached 1,000 points for her career with an early 3-pointer and finished with 14 points. She now has 1,011 career points.
Sheres Pittman only scored a point, but she had a team-high four assists while Victori Keenan had a team-high four steals. Pittman also had three steals.
Tulane’s next game is on the road as the Green Wave heads to Charlotte to take on the 49ers on Saturday in a game that will tip off at 3 p.m. central. After that, Tulane remains on the road for a Wednesday showdown with USF in Tampa.
