March 3, 2009

Tournament Gets Underway Thursday at Noon. Tulane Faces Tulsa Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Championship Central | Bracket

NEW ORLEANS - On an early March weekend in 1999, Lacey Vicknair stood on the court at Tulane's Fogelman Arena as the Conference USA Tournament Trophy was presented to the Green Wave. A senior on the 1999 team, Vicknair considered it a once-in-a-lifetime moment. This March, the Green Wave hope to provide her with a feeling of déjà vu.

The Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship is back in Fogelman Arena for the first time since 1999, as the historic venue hosts the 2009 edition on March 5-8.

This time, Vicknair - now Lacey Momic - will have a different view, one from the stands, as the 2009 Green Wave try to replicate the feat of the 1999 squad and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In 1999, Vicknair, along with Tournament MVP and All-American Grace Daley, as well as Janell Burse, Kiki Cizmar, Sarah Goree, Salome Hector, Kristen Koch, Fabrecia Roberson, Kelly Scanlon, Gwen Slaughter, and Taryn Turnbull capped a 24-6 season with the C-USA title at Fogelman Arena and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The team remains the only squad in Conference history to win the tournament at home.

"As a player, it was a once in a lifetime moment," says Momic. "To win your conference championship on your home floor in your senior year... that's rare and special."

For the 2009 Tulane Green Wave, the opportunity for a special senior send off belongs to guards Ashley Langford and Megan Valicevic, along with forward Kendra Barnes, who will be on the sidelines due to a knee injury.

"It's a great opportunity for our team, and it can be a big advantage," Valicevic says. "We'll sleep in our own beds and be shooting on our own rims. But the really special part is that after losing Fogelman Arena at the beginning of our freshman year, we seniors get to finish with the tournament on our home floor."

Head coach Lisa Stockton, who has guided the Green Wave to nine NCAA Tournament trips and four C-USA tournament titles in the past 15 years, knows the advantages and the pitfalls.

"There's definitely some pressure," she says. "If you're the top seed or if you're at home, you can put too much pressure on yourself. You can't try to win the tournament on the first day. You have to focus on winning your game and advancing to the next day. Our championship teams have understood that."

In a hard-fought tournament, in a conference where any team can beat any other on any given day, Stockton knows the landscape better than anyone, as Tulane's four C-USA tourney crowns are the most by any member in the conference's history.

"In 1999, we weren't the top seed," Stockton explains, "so it wasn't a true home game. We had to sit on the other bench, for example. But they were focused on winning the game in front of them. You need everyone. We had Grace Daley as tournament MVP, but the whole team was focused to win a championship. Janell Burse was on the All-Tournament Team, Kristen Koch scored 26 points against Louisville, and Lacey [Vicknair] stepped up with a big tournament."

"We were focused because the coaches kept us focused," reflects Momic, who played professional volleyball in Austria and Croatia after her basketball career ended. She returned to Tulane, where she now serves as a Portfolio Manager and Development Officer.

"Anything can happen in the conference tournament, and there is a lot of pressure to win," she continued. "When you have an opportunity like that, you just have to stay focused and prepare like any other game."

And if the championship wasn't motivation enough, Tulane's home court advantage certainly helped.

"That big crowd kept us focused on playing hard, and winning. We had to win the game. The fans were such a huge part of it for us."

"We had a great environment in 1999," Stockton says. "It's not just a chance to play at home, but a chance to show off your city, your campus, and your fans. Our fans embraced that. A lot of the fans hadn't been to a women's basketball game before. But they supported us, and we wanted to give them a reason to come back the next day. It was a really great atmosphere."

The Tulane seniors recognize the opportunity, and the role the crowd plays for them.

"Some teams never get to play the conference tournament at home," Valicevic says. "The opportunity is something we're all excited for. We can show everyone in the conference what Tulane basketball is all about. As a player, you definitely draw excitement from the crowd. You want to play harder, you want to win for yourself and your teammates; but you also want to win for them, too, because they want you to win."

"It definitely helped us to see how much support we had and to know the city took pride in our success. It was a big motivation," Momic reflects. "Fogelman is a huge home court advantage, because it's so intimate and the fans are right on top of the floor. The visiting team feels that, and feels the pressure. It's almost like the fans are an extra player on the court."

An extra player with Tournament experience?

"Oh, I'll definitely be there," Momic says.

Join the Green Wave as they make a run to the for the 2009 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship March 5-8 at Fogelman Arena on Tulane's campus. Tickets are available now on TulaneGreenWave.com, or by calling the Tulane Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE. All 12 teams of Conference USA will travel to New Orleans for the single-elimination tournament.

Tulane is the six seed in the C-USA tournament and will play 11-seed Tulsa at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Tulane will face Southern Miss on Friday at 5:30 in the quarterfinals should the Green Wave advance.

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