Dec. 28, 2009

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NEW ORLEANS - Junior forwards Tiffany Aidoo and Danielle Nunn posted career high scoring totals with 19 points each and the Green Wave defense tied a season high with 16 steals as the Tulane University women's basketball team opened the 2009 DoubleTree Classic with an 82-59 win over Long Island Monday evening at Fogelman Arena.

Taking the floor without the services of injured frontcourt standouts Brett Benzio and Brittany Lindsey, the Wave went small with essentially a five-guard lineup. Tulane's speed and defensive pressure were too much for the Blackbirds to handle. With the win, the Green Wave extended their winning streak to seven straight and improved to 9-2 on the year. Long Island, meanwhile, fell to 7-5 on the season.

"The thing that stands out in my mind is we're missing two of our top three scorers tonight," Tulane head women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton said. "You ask your players to step up and two of them have career nights. I think that's all you can ask of your team. I thought they all responded and we did what we needed to do."

"I think (the win) says a lot about our team executing the game plan. We weren't sure how it was going to work but we felt that we had to have pressure pretty much the whole game. We knew that we had to double and put a lot of pressure on the ball in the half court. We did that, created turnovers and made them take bad shots."

Making just the second start of her career and the first as a member of the Green Wave team, Nunn connected on 6-of-9 shots from the field and drained 7-of-8 free throw opportunities to surpass her former career high of 14 against Houston on Nov. 22, 2006 when she was a freshman at TCU. In addition, Nunn posted a career-best six steals and tied her career high in rebounds with a team-leading seven. She also handed out three assists and posted one block.

Aidoo, meanwhile, hit 5-of-9 baskets, including 3-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc, and was true on 6-of-8 free throws. Not to be left out, sophomore center Jennifer Nwokedi posted a career-high five blocks. Senior guard Chassity Brown led the Green Wave with 21 points and junior guard Roshaunda Barnes led all players with five assists. While Nunn led the team in thefts, freshman guard Olivia Grayson was next four and Brown added three.

"Starting from day one, we've played like a team," Aidoo said. "We come out, we execute and we play hard for each other. I this may be the best we have played together up until right now. We're playing really well and it's a great feeling."

The two teams traded the first 12 points of the game, and with the game knotted at 6-all just under five minutes into the first half, the Green Wave went on a 15-3 run to take an eight point lead and never looked back. The lead swelled to double digits at 25-15 with 6:20 to play before the break and the two teams went into the locker room with Tulane on top by 13 at 38-25.

The Green Wave made it a 20-point ballgame early in the second half at 46-26 two minutes and 41 seconds into the stanza and went up by 28 at 56-28 on a Grayson free throw 2:25 later. The Blackbirds made things interesting later in the half, going on a 16-4 rally to cut the deficit to 13 at 63-50 with 7:37 left in regulation, but that was as close as the Green Wave would allow Long Island to get. A pair of Aidoo free throws, and a pair of Brown 3-pointers pushed the advantage back above the 20-point barrier and Tulane cruised to the 23-point victory.

"As a team, everyone was clicking," Nunn said. "Everyone was finding the right person, everyone was making the extra pass and I think that's how everyone was able to get on the board and score points. Because we were playing all guards, they had a harder time guarding our guards. We were able to take advantage of them on the perimeter and use our guard skills against their post players."

Chelsi Johnson was one of three Long Island players to finish with double-digit scoring totals with 10 while Ashley Palmer and Connie James had 12 each. Johnson posted the game's lone double-double with 10 rebounds, James paced the club with four assists and had three of the Blackbirds' six steals.

The 14th Annual Tulane DoubleTree Classic continues on Tuesday when North Dakota and Long Island play the consolation game at 6 p.m. before Tulane faces Texas Tech in the championship game at 8 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.

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