Tulane Women Come Up Just Short vs UNT, 59-53
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In a tail of two halves, the Tulane women's basketball team used defense to overcome a first half double-digit deficit, but came up short in a 59-53 American Conference loss to North Texas in Fogelman Arena on Saturday afternoon. The turnaround in the final twenty minutes of play can be contributed to a change in how the Green Wave players responded, according to coach Ashley Langford.
"We just decided to defend," Langford explained. "I went in at halftime (down by 15-points) and told them, 'North Texas is a good team, but we weren't being disciplined and doing we needed to do.' We decided to defend, follow our principles, and they (UNT) only scored 19-points (in the 2nd half)."
Down 13 points entering the fourth quarter, the Tulane women’s basketball team was able to pull back to within three with 11 seconds to go Saturday afternoon, but the Green Wave could not quite complete the comeback against North Texas. The Mean Green improves to 9-7 (3-1 American). Tulane moves to 6-10 (1-3 American).
A Defensive Matchup on Both Ends
The contest was played tightly on the defensive end, with both teams shooting 35%. Tulane hit a trio of three-pointers with North Texas converting two. The Mean Green secured a 42-40 rebounding edge with the biggest advantage coming on the offensive glass. Though North Texas grabbed just three more offensive boards, 17-14, the team turned them into 16 second chance points, nine more than Tulane could convert. The other key difference on the stat sheet was the turnover battle, in which Tulane committed 20 while forcing 15 by North Texas. The Mean Green used this to claim a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Tulane was led by Mecailin Marshall and Kanija Daniel, who netted 20 and 14 points, respectively. The duo combined for 34 of the Wave’s 53 total points. Marshall added a career-high 10 rebounds to notch her first-career double-double. Her 20-points marks Marshall's third 20-point outing of the season, making her the first Tulane freshman with at least three twenty point outings in a season since JerKaila Jordan had 10 such performances in the 2020-21 campaign. Daniel added six boards with a career-best three blocks and a steal. Dyllan Hanna secured seven rebounds to bring her within five boards of 500 for her career. Kendall Sneed led the way with four assists.
A Slow Start by the Wave
The Wave got on the board first with a layup by Kanija Daniel. North Texas responded to tie the game, but Amira Mabry pushed Tulane back ahead. After another Mean Green response, Dyllan Hanna converted before against North Texas tied the game. The Mean Green then connected on a three, and a seven-point run in total pushed them ahead. Mabry and Mecailin Marshall tallied back-to-back scores to pull Tulane back within a point, but a nine-point run by North Texas to close the quarter made the margin 20-10 after 10 minutes.
With a score to open the second, the overall Mean Green run stretched to 11. Daniel buried a three to cut into the deficit, sparking a six-point run for herself. Mabry added a score to bring Tulane within four, but the Mean Green remained in control and pulled back out to a 10-point lead after a three. Free throws by Marshall late in the quarter were matched by a layup to close the half for North Texas, who led 40-25 at the break.
Second Half Has the Wave Finding their Footing
Daniel began the second half by depositing a three. Kendall Sneed shaved the margin back to single-digits with a score, and Marshall and Daniel added buckets as a 10-point Tulane run brought the margin to 40-35. The teams traded baskets before the Mean Green hit a groove and pulled back out to a 50-37 lead at the end of the quarter.
Looking to erase a 13-point deficit, Tulane got to work with a pair of free throws by Marshall, who then drained a three. After trading some blows, Marshall collected her own miss and put it home to bring Tulane within 54-47. A Sneed layup shaved the deficit to five points with 3:34 on the clock. Both defenses clamped down as the game ran scoreless for two minutes. Jordyn Weaver broke the spell at the 1:32 mark with a layup, and Tulane trailed just 54-51. The defenses again stood tall, with the next score coming from North Texas at the charity stripe with 24 seconds to go. Jayda Brown contributed a layup with 11 seconds to go to shave the score to 56-53, but as the final seconds ticked away Tulane was unable to get another bucket to fall. The Mean Green closed the contest out at the charity stripe, as despite Tulane’s late push North Texas earned a 59-53 win.
It Comes Down to Consistency for the Greenies
"Just trying to be consistent," Langford expounded after the game. "It's what I've been saying this whole season: we're inconsistent. We show the flashes of a really good team that can win a lot of games. Then we have some lapses where we don't look so great. Even if we can go 35-minutes (out of a 40-minute game), we'll have a chance to win."
What it comes down to for Langford, it's not stomping out a bunch of little fires that crop up. It's more about each of the players bringing their play each night for the full time they are on the court.
"Are they (the players) going to consistently do what they do every moment they're out there," Langford explained. "Let's say we have ten possessions. Five out of the ten, they're doing the right thing. If you have multiple players (not doing that), that's how those inconsistencies (pile up). If you have teammates who are inconsistent, and you don't really know what they're doing all the time, it leans into that trust piece. It's not easy to rely on the help side, because that help side may not always be there. If we could just, one player at a time, have each player play consistently..."
Forward Dyllan Hanna's name came up here in the post-game interview as an example of someone who is consistently there, especially in two categories.
"Dyllan, every game, is going to defend. She's going to rebound," Langford told us. "Every game, that's what she's going to do. We need that from everybody. What are they going to do every single game?
"Our players are going to have to look in the mirror," Langford offered when asked what would turn it around. "Are they doing everything they can? Are they locked in? Are they focused? A lot of it is on them."
Tulane hits the road with a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, January 13, as the team takes on Temple. Tip-off against the Owls is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT with the game streaming on ESPN+.
Portions Courtesy of Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.