Dec. 22, 2009

Final Stats |  Quotes

NEW ORLEANS - Taking the court for the third time in the past six days, Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton and the Green Wave women's basketball team knew that fatigue could be a factor, knew it would take a team effort and knew the importance of defending their home court.

When the dust settled on Tuesday night's midweek matchup against McNeese State, all 10 Green Wave players to take the floor had double-digit minute totals, six of the 10 players had at least eight points and five had five-or-more rebounds as Tulane defeated the Cowgirls, 75-45, in Fogelman Arena.

Combined with Sunday's 84-51 win over Stephen F. Austin, the Green Wave posted back-to-back 30-point victories for just the fifth time in 34-year history of the program. Tulane also extends its winning streak to six in a row to improve to 8-2 on the year. McNeese State, meanwhile, falls to 3-8.

"We're 8-2, which is a great record, and we're playing well," Stockton said. "As coaches, we're very critical sometimes, but when you look at each player, we ask are they playing better than they did last year. I think most of our team is playing better than they were last year at this time and even at the end of the year. Of course, our newcomers have come in and added something with Danielle (Nunn), Olivia (Grayson) and Janique (Kautsky). Hopefully we can keep it going."

Senior guard Chassity Brown had a game-high 13 points and the duo of Olivia Grayson and Danielle Nunn scored 10 apiece. The Green Wave hit a season-best eight 3-pointers on the night - two each by Brown, Grayson, freshman Janique Kautsky and senior Indira Kaljo.

Brown led Tulane on the boards as well with eight rebounds while junior guard Roshaunda Brown paced the club with six assists and three steals. The Green Wave defense held McNeese State to a 31.7 shooting percentage as the Cowgirls hit just 20-of-63 shot attempts.

Tulane had 11 steals among McNeese State's 28 turnovers and turned those miscues into 31 points. The Green Wave also 19 second-chance points off of 17 offensive rebounds and had 18 fast-break points. Tulane's bench outscored McNeese State's reserves, 33-14.

"That's been something we've been very good at this year," Stockton said of her team's defensive effort. "We've been shooting the ball pretty well, but I think our defense has been very strong. Some teams have come out and really shot well against us but we have been able to contain them in the second half. It was good to see us come out strong again."

Tulane wasted little time asserting itself as Brown sandwiched a 3-pointer and a layup around a basket by McNeese State's Ne'Aisha Anderson in the first 2:02 of the game. The Green Wave advantage hit the double-digit mark at 12-2 2:36 later on a pair of Barnes free throws and later doubled to 20 at 36-16 with 5:24 left to play before the break.

The Green Wave led by as many as 23 in the opening stanza on a Kaljo trey with 2:27 left in the half to make it 43-20. That was Tulane's final basket of the period and a jumper by the Cowgirls' Kiara Johnson with 29 seconds remaining made it a 21-point affair heading into the locker room.

McNeese State scored 12 of the first 19 points of the second half to cut the deficit to 16 at 50-34 and the two teams traded baskets to make it a 52-36 affair with 12:11 left on the clock. From there, the Green Wave got back-to-back 3-point baskets by Kautsky and Brown, and a jumper by Grayson capped an 8-0 run. The rally gave Tulane a 24-point lead at 60-36 and the Green Wave never looked back.

"We did a good job tonight," Stockton said. "The starters began the game pretty intense, started the press and got some steals. And when we went to the bench, we got some good things from them as well."

Anderson was the lone Cowgirl player to finish in double digits with 12 points and Lindsay Johnson paced McNeese State with eight rebounds. Anderson and Brooke Froeba tied for team-high assists honors with three each, and Kyle Leonards lead the team with three steals.

The Green Wave return to action on Monday, Dec. 28 when they play host to North Dakota State, Long Island and Texas Tech in the 2009 Tulane/DoubleTree Classic in Fogelman Arena. Tulane opens the tournament with a 6 p.m. showdown against Long Island while North Dakota State and Texas Tech are scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. The consolation and championship games are slated for 6 and 8 p.m., respectively, on Saturday, Dec. 29. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.

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