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Feb. 3, 2007

Box Score

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Senior guard D'Aundra Henry scored 17 of her 23 points in the second half, as the Tulane women's basketball team pulled out a 71-68 road victory at Rice Saturday evening to win its seventh straight game and remain in first in Conference USA at 8-2 (19-4 overall).

Jennifer Sands finished with 11 points and six boards while Jami Montagnino added 10 points and five rebounds.

With Rice trailing by one, 65-64, Henry ripped off a pass at mid-court and laid it in for a three-point lead. After a basket by Lauren Neaves, Dominique Philpots grabbed an offensive rebound and Henry scored while being fouled. The `and-one' free throw gave Tulane a 70-66 lead.

Tulane's Ashley Langford connected on a pair of free throws after a pair of baskets from Neaves, but Neaves cut it to three with 4.6 seconds to go. Langford got her feet tangled up with a defender and the inbound pass went awry, giving the Owls possession. But the three-pointer by Krystal Frazier rimmed out as the Owls finished 0-for-11 from long distance on the day.

Rice (13-9, 6-3 C-USA entering) was led by Lauren Neaves, who scored 27 points and 18 rebounds.

Philpots chipped in nine rebounds to go with four points. Nikki Luckhurst recorded four steals, with Henry adding three.

Sands gave Tulane a 5-4 lead with her sixth three-pointer of the year and a bucket inside. Lauren Neaves and the Owls answered, holding a 16-11 margin with 11:20 to go in the first. After a three by Montagnino and a basket from Sands tied the game at 18-all, Rice reeled off a 9-0 run over the next 3:12.

Sasha Staidum drained a three-ball from the corner as Tulane crept to within four and Alendra Brown scored inside with three seconds left to pull the Green Wave within 35-32 at the half.

Neaves and Krystal Frazier led all players at the break with eight points each, while Brown and D'Aundra Henry each posted six for Tulane.

Rice dominated the boards, 23-13 in the first frame, but the Wave forced 11 turnovers to only trail by three.

In the second half, Tulane used a pair of lay-ups from Montagnino to take a 38-37 lead just two minutes in. After a steal and lay-up from Henry, the two teams traded the lead on four straight trips down the court. Tulane then used an 10-1 run to take its largest lead to that point, 56-48 with 9:13 remaining.

Neaves led Rice back with eight-straight Owl points as the Rice closed the gap to two, 62-60. But an `and-one' from Megan Valicevic - who attended high school in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands - stretched the lead to 65-60 with 3:25 left, setting up the final dramatics.

Tulane was out-rebounded 44-31, but forced 20 turnovers and scored 18 points of Owl miscues.

Tulane's three-game road swing continues Wednesday at Memphis at 7 p.m. Live statistics and live audio of the Green Wave and the Lady Tigers will be available at TulaneGreenWave.com.