Green Wave outscore Tigers 52-28 in the second half to improve to 20-5 overall and 9-3 in league play

NEW ORLEANS – In each of the last four games, the Tulane University women’s basketball team found itself with the best record in Conference USA only to have the share the distinction with a handful of other teams.

Following Thursday’s 86-61 win over Memphis, however, the Green Wave are now alone atop the league standings as Tulane turned a one-point halftime lead into a 25-point win with a spectacular second half in Fogelman Arena. After hitting just 10-of-31 field goals in the first half and allowing the Tigers to connect at a 51.7 percent clip (15-of-29) in the opening stanza, the Green Wave bounced back to hit 16-of-36 shots (.444) while holding Memphis to a 29.4 showing (10-of-34) in the second half

With the win, the Green Wave improve to 20-5 overall and 9-3 in league play. The win allowed Tulane to reach the 20-win plateau for the first time since its C-USA championship season of 2006-07 and gave head coach Lisa Stockton her ninth 20-win campaign at the helm of the Green Wave program. Memphis – which came to town sharing the C-USA lead – exited Fogelman 15-10 on the year and 8-4 in C-USA action.

“We just came out in the second half with a lot more focus,” Stockton said. “In the first half, I felt like we gave up too many points in transition and just looked real sloppy defensively. In the second half, we came out a lot more focused and took some things away from them.

“This has been a fun season so far. It’s one that if you wrote a script, I don’t think it would have gone like this with all of the injuries and having to change things around so much. I’m just so proud of these players. They’ve done such a great job of just coming to win every game. That’s a lot of fun to coach.”

Junior point guard Roshaund led five Green Wave players in double digits with a game-high 21 points after hitting 6-of-10 shots from the field – including a 2-of-4 showing from the 3-point line – and going a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. In addition to her scoring total, Barnes also led all players with five assists and five steals while chipping in with three rebounds.

Junior forward Tiffany Aidoo was second on the Tulane stat sheet with 14 points while senior guard Chassity Brown and freshman guard Oliva Grayson scored 11 each, and junior forward Danielle Nunn finished with 10. Brown and sophomore center Brett Benzio tied for team-high rebounding honors with eight boards apiece.

The Green Wave once again used its defense to help put points on the board. Tulane forced 24 turnovers and tallied 12 steals, and turned the Memphis miscues into 36 points. In addition, Tulane outscored Memphis off the bench, 22-14.

“It was a great day by Roshaunda and I think she did a tremendous job,” Stockton said. “She got to the free throw line and made them count. When a team presses like that and they put you at the free throw line and you don’t make them count, they get away with it. She did a great job there.

“Tiffany Aidoo can do some great things. She got into early foul trouble, but we had a good team effort. It was great to see Olivia Grayson shoot the ball well and play like she played today. Hopefully that’ll be the Olivia we’ll be seeing every day because she looked good.”

Brown opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 54 seconds into the ballgame, but the two teams wound up trading the contest’s first 38 points. Deadlocked at 19-all, Tulane reclaimed the lead on a basket by freshman forward Janique Kautsky and appeared to get some breathing room on the Tigers at 34-25 with 3:26 to go in the opening half. From there, however, Memphis went on a 8-0 run to end the frame and the Green Wave went into the locker room at the break clinging to a one-point lead.

Tulane scored the first six points of the second half on a Brown jumper, an Aidoo trey and a Nunn free throw to make it 40-33 and the closest Memphis got the rest of the night was five at 40-35 and later at 43-38 with 15:14 left to go in regulation. Barnes sparked an 8-0 Tulane rally with a layup and Nunn followed with back to back layups plus and-one free throws to make it a 13-point contest at the 14:03 mark.

The lead swelled to 21 at 68-47 less than nine minutes later and Tulane led by as many as 26 on a layup by Tyria Snow to make it 84-58 with 41 second to play. A 3-pointer by Memphis’ Alex Winchell cut the deficit to 23 and a pair of free throws by sophomore center Jennifer Nwokedi accounted for the game’s final points.

“Tulane played very, very well this evening,” Memphis 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…Hats off to Tulane, this was not our best game.”

The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Feb. 20, when they play host to UAB at 4 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. That game is the first of a Tulane basketball double header as the men’s team will battle Marshall at 7 p.m. It will also be Senior Day for the women’s team as will honor Barnes and Indira Kaljo with a special ceremony prior to tipoff.

Following Saturday’s game, the Green Wave will close out the 2009-10 regular season with three consecutive road games before heading to Tulsa, Okla., for the 2010 C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship. After Saturday’s game against UAB, Tulane will play at Rice on Feb. 25, at Houston on Feb. 27 and at UTEP on March 3. The C-USA Tournament is slated to begin on March 8 and culminate with the championship game on March 12. The winner of that game will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Tags: Conference USA, Memphis Tigers, Tulane Green Wave, women's college basketball