Tulane Women Conclude Non-Conference Play with Their Holiday Tournament
In this story:
This Week's Coverage of Tulane's First CFP Appearance
Monday: Two Words for Those Who Think TU & JMU Should Not Be in the CFP
Tuesday: Tulane offense vs Ole Miss
Wednesday: Wave defensive angle against the Rebels
Thursday: Hear from Some Fans making their way to Oxford
Friday: What are Fans Doing Who are Not Going to the Game
The Tulane women’s basketball team returns home this weekend to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule with a pair of contests at Avron B. Fogelman Arena. The annual Tulane Holiday Tournament takes place on Saturday, December 20, and Sunday, December 21, with a pair of games each day. The Green Wave will first play Delaware State on Saturday at noon.
Only Tulane’s games this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+. They can be heard on WRBH 88.3 FM and through the Varsity Network App. The other three participating programs are Delaware State, Detroit Mercy, and Mercer. After the Wave and Hornets kick off the event at noon, Mercer and Detroit Mercy meet at 2:30 p.m. The losers play in the consolation game at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, and the winners meet for the championship at 1:30 p.m. right after.
Tulane Holiday Tourney Held over Two Dozen Times
The tournament was first held in 1996 and has been held a total of 27 times. Since the initial tournament, it has taken place every year but two: 2020 and 2021, both of which were due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event returned in 2022 and has been a yearly staple since with this weekend marking the 28th edition. The Green Wave has won the tournament 21 times, including each of the last three editions. The last non-Tulane champion was Colorado in 2019, the last tournament before the two-year hiatus. Current senior Amira Mabry was named the MVP of last season’s tournament, the first for Tulane under head coach Ashley Langford.
Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between Tulane and Delaware State. The Hornets post 53.4 points per game and shoot at a 36.1 percent clip and 27.3 percent beyond the arc. Delaware State secures 33.2 rebounds per game and commits 18.5 turnovers per contest. Mahogany Cottingham leads the team in scoring with a mark of 10.9, and Ericka Huggins is the top rebounder at 6.3 per game. Jaz Turner is the head coach of the Hornets in her third season with the program. Delaware State is 3-9 on the season and enters the tournament on a five-game losing streak. The Hornets last played on Saturday, December 13, and suffered a 60-46 loss at Georgetown.
Should Tulane play Detroit Mercy on Sunday, it will be the third-ever match-up between the programs with the series split at 1-1. The Wave has played Mercer three times previously and holds a 2-1 all-time edge in the series. The Titans are 3-6 this season and 2-1 in Horizon League play. The Bears are 7-5 on the campaign.
Wave Can Even-Steven Their Record this Weekend
Tulane is 4-6 on the season and fresh off an 81-52 loss at No. 24 Alabama on Wednesday. Tulane boasts a scoring clip of 71.6, good for fourth in the American. The team shoots at a 41.4 percent rate with a 30.9 percent clip from three. On the glass, the Wave captures 40.5 rebounds per contest to rank third in the conference. Tulane’s 15.2 offensive rebounds per game remain third in the league as well. The squad records 15.9 assists per game, best in the conference and 64th in the nation. Kanija Daniel leads the team as one of three averaging double figures at 12.1 points per game. Amira Mabry (11.5) and Mecailin Marshall (10.2) round out the trio. Dyllan Hanna tops the rebounding efforts with 7.2 per game, ninth most in the conference. Kendall Sneed ranks seventh in the American with her 4.0 assists per game.
Sneed earned a weekly honorable mention nod by the American Conference on Monday after her 18-point performance against New Orleans this past Sunday.
After concluding non-conference action this weekend, Tulane will get a break for the holidays before returning to play with the beginning of the American Conference slate on Tuesday, December 30. The league opener is at UTSA with tip-off designated for 1:00 p.m.
Courtesy 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.