Feb. 18, 2010

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

NEW ORLEANS, La. - - Tulane used the lines to take the lead in the Conference USA standings with an 86-61 win over Memphis (15-10, 8-4 C-USA) Thursday night. The Green Wave connected on 10 three-point field goals and took advantage of a Tiger defense that racked up 25 personal fouls and 23 offensive rebounds.

"Let me say this, Tulane played very, very well this evening," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "You can tell they were veterans and they played very hard. They stuck to their game plan and we didn't. We aren't going to win against the best defensive team in the conference when we have 24 turnovers. I didn't think we competed very well on the boards. Hats off to Tulane, this was not our best game. We have to not point fingers and need to step up and take responsibility for this now, I hope that's the type of team we have."

Memphis trailed 34-33 at the half as the lines made the difference in the opening half. Four of Tulane's first five field goals came from beyond the three-point line, and the Green Wave converted 9-of-12 tries from the free-throw line to hold off the Tigers. The Green Wave would knock down five triples in the opening half, from three different players.

Memphis was hampered when Brittany Carter, who scored six quick points to open the game, picked up her second foul with 13:08 to play in the first stanza. Freshman Chatia Kelsey came off the bench to spell Carter, but she also picked up a second foul, and when Taylor Mumphrey picked up her second foul with 6:38 to play, Memphis was just trying to scramble the line-up to keep players with fouls on the bench while still trying to generate some offense on the other end of the floor.

The Tigers were especially hurt on the glass in the first half, with Tulane grabbing 11 offensive rebounds, getting second chances to score.

Tulane came out and dominated the early minutes of the second half, forcing two Tiger turnovers and a 6-0 run to push the lead to 40-33. Memphis got a bucket from Ellis in the paint, but Tulane kept running down offensive rebounds and the Green Wave shooters were standing there with their hands ready to shoot, knocking down two more threes to push the lead to 51-39 following a pair of layups from Danielle Nunn.

"They already had six offensive rebounds when we sat down at the first media timeout to start the second half. I was just disappointed, I thought we had several players who didn't play very well. They had the ball ripped out of their hands by a Tulane team that wanted to win this game very badly. They had a higher sense of urgency than we did," McFerrin said.

Memphis tried to answer back with Carter knocking down back to back buckets, but a 5:34 scoreless stretch from the field just allowed the Green Wave to push the game out of reach while the Tigers accumulated a total of 25 team fouls compared to just 12 for Tulane. Once at the free-throw line, Tulane made Memphis pay, hitting 24-of-32 attempts.

Brittany Carter was the lone Tiger to score double-digits, finishing with 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting. Nicole Dickson had a career-high with 15 rebounds, but was 3-for-10 from the floor. Five different Green Wave players scored double-digit points, led by 21 from Roshaunda Barnes. Memphis will wrap up the road swing Saturday at UTEP. That game will tip at 8:05 p.m. (CT).