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March 6, 2007

As the 2006-07 Tulane Women's Basketball Team (25-6, Conference USA Regular Season Champions) awaits the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field, the Green Wave program looks back at its rich post-season tradition.

No team in women's basketball history with more than 24 wins and six or fewer losses has been left out of NCAA Women's Basketball Division I field of 64.

With nine NCAA Tournament appearances, one National Women's Invitation Tournament (NWIT) appearance and another post-season trip clinched in 2007, the Tulane Women's Basketball program will raise its 11th post-season tournament banner to the rafters of Fogelman Arena.

Tulane's first post-season trip was a NWIT bid in the 1994 season under head coach Candi Harvey. The Green Wave won it's first-ever post-season game with a 78-75 win over Northeast Louisiana (now University of Louisiana-Monroe) before eventually falling to Pittsburgh in the Wave's third game.

For the 1994-95 season, head coach Lisa Stockton took the reigns and led the Green Wave to a 19-10 overall record, earning Metro Conference Coach of the Year honors and earning an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Wave fell in their first ever tournament game to Texas Tech.

The Metro Conference reformed as Conference USA the following year and Coach Stockton and budding superstar Barbara Farris returned to The Big Dance in 1995-96, as the Green Wave (21-10) again earned an at large bid, falling to Colorado, 83-75.

Farris earned All-America Honorable Mention honors in 1996-97, guiding the Green Wave to its' first-ever Conference USA Regular Season Championship. Tulane stormed through the C-USA Tournament, winning the school's first ever automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

Once in the Field of 64, the Green Wave were favored with a number-four seed in the East Region, traveling to Washington, D.C., to take on 13-seed UC-Santa Barbara. The Wave recorded its school-record 27th win of the season for its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. In the Second Round for the first time, the Wave's season came to an end with a 27-5 record following a loss to host George Washington.

Tulane's fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1997-98 with an at-large berth behind All-America Honorable Mention Grace Daley. Daley and the Wave finished the season 21-7 following a loss to fourth-seeded Kansas in the West Region.

Daley was named All-America Honorable Mention again in 1998-99 as Tulane earned another Conference USA regular season title and swept the C-USA Tournament, taking the C-USA automatic bid and a six seed in the NCAA Tournament with a 24-6 final record.

The Green Wave's NCAA Tournament run extended to a sixth-straight year in 1999-2000, as Tulane once again won the Conference USA Tournament crown. Daley earned her third straight All-America honor en route to becoming Tulane's all-time leading scorer and was joined by Janell Burse as the Wave tied its school record with a 27-5 overall record and advanced to the Second Round for the second time in school history.

A third-straight Conference USA Tournament title in 2000-01 earned the Green Wave a 10-seed in the Midwest Region in Tulane's seventh-consecutive NCAA Tournament trip, with Burse leading the Wave in a 72-70 nail-biting loss to Florida State.

In 2001-02, Teana McKiver - a second team All-American from Basketball Times - helped the Wave run their NCAA streak to eight-straight seasons. Again, Tulane was placed in a 7-10 match-up, but this time as the 10-seed. As the year before, the 10-seed was victorious as Tulane earned its third NCAA Tournament victory, defeating Colorado State, 73-69, before falling to host Stanford in the Second Round.

McKiver and the Wave were back in The Dance again in 2002-03, in the final installment of Tulane's nine-year NCAA Tournament run. Again, an All-America, McKiver helped the Green Wave earn an at-large selection to the tournament and an 11 seed in the West Region with a 19-10 overall record.

Now in 2006-07, the Green Wave are back in the post-season with a regular season Conference USA title - the first ever outright C-USA crown - under its belt. The nine returning letter-winners who battled through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in a turbulent 2005-06 campaign (which saw the Wave go 15-12 overall, and 9-6 once the Tulane campus re-opened in January), were joined by red-shirt senior D'Aundra Henry, who earned Third Team All-Conference USA and C-USA All-Defensive Team honors.

Henry and senior guard Jami Montagnino - a First Team All-Conference USA and Academic All-Conference pick - each reached the 1,000 career point plateau in the 2006-07 season. With sophomore point guard Ashley Langford (a Third Team All-Conference USA selection coming off Freshman All-America honors) setting another single-season assist record, the formidable Green Wave back court helped the Wave rack up a 25-6 overall record.

Tulane (25-6) won the 2006-07 Conference USA Regular Season Championship

Head coach Lisa Stockton, the winningest coach in Conference USA history, was named 2006-07 Conference USA Coach of the Year, prior to the C-USA tournament in which the top-seeded Wave were upset by the fourth-seeded Rice Owls in the semifinals.

Tulane has history on its' side for an eighth NCAA Tournament appearance, as no team in women's basketball history with more than 24 wins and six or fewer losses has been left out of NCAA Women's Basketball Division I field of 64.

Regardless, the Green Wave - having assured themselves a spot in the Women's NIT with a regular season Conference USA championship - will add another post-season banner to the East wall of Fogelman Arena.

The acronym that will adorn the banner will finally be known on Monday, March 12, as the Women's NCAA Tournament Bracket is announced at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.

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