Tulane Green Wave Women’s Basketball Withstands Rally for Victory

The Tulane Green Wave women’s basketball team maintained their standings in conference action with a win over Wichita State.

Mar 6, 2023; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Tulane Green Wave guard Kyren Whittington (0) controls the ball against Cincinnati Bearcats guard Mya Jackson (23) during the first half at Dickies Arena. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The Tulane Green Wave women’s basketball team claimed a 68-64 victory over the Wichita State Shockers on Saturday at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

The victory kept the Green Wave (16-10, 9-6 in American) in fifth place in the American Athletic Conference as the race for in the American Athletic Conference Tournament in Fort Worth is coming down to the final two weeks.

Tulane took control of the game in the first half, thanks to a second quarter in which the Green Wave outscored the Shockers, 21-6, to build a 36-25 lead.

The Shockers (9-20, 3-13) took their best shot in the fourth quarter and made a game of it, as they only lost by four points. Princess Anderson’s huge game — 25 points and six rebounds — wasn’t enough to help Wichita State overcome the Green Wave.

Sherese Pittman led the Green Wave with an incredible game, as she scored 17 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. She was one of two Tulane players with double-digit rebounds, as Amira Mabry chipped in 11 rebounds, but only scored four points.

Victoria Keenan scored 16 points, as she connected on four 3-pointers and grabbed seven rebounds. Kyren Whittington added 12 points. Kendall Sneed had six points but had team-highs with six assists and four steals. Pittman also had three steals.

The Green Wave entered the weekend one game behind the Temple Owls for fourth place in the AAC.

The Green Wave and the Owls split their season series, with Tulane winning Philadelphia in January and the Owls winning in New Orleans last week.

To have any shot at the No. 4 seed, Tulane must continue to win, and Temple needs to lose at least one game to drop into a tie. The Owls are off this weekend and face the Memphis Tigers next week. In fact, all three of Temple’s remaining games are against teams below it in the standings.

The top four teams in the AAC final standings receive double byes into the quarterfinals. If Tulane remains in the No. 5 spot, the Green Wave will play in the second round on March 9 against the winner of Game 1, which pits the No. 13 seed against the No. 12 seed.

Tulane has just two games remaining in the regular season. The Green Wave will host UTSA on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and then head to UAB for the finale the following Tuesday at 6 p.m.