Tulane Women Crush Memphis, 69-54

A short-handed Tulane women's team took on Memphis for the second time in three-days, as the Green Wave welcomed the Tigers to Fogelman Arena Thursday night, and the Wave wasn't particularly the best of hosts, easily taking care of Memphis, 69-54 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates.

"I'm really proud of tonight's effort," coach Ashley Langford told us after the game. "Winning two games in a row, especially with only one day between, says a lot about our team. (We were) missing some players today, others stepping up, I was really proud of the focus we had for most of the game."

Already short-staffed, the Tulane women found themselves down to nine players dressing out for Thursday night’s game after guard Kendall Sneed’s injury in the waning moments of Tuesday’s victory over Memphis. She was seen on crutches before the game. When asked how Sneed is doing after the game, Langford replied in typical coach speak, "Day-to-day,."

Only Sneed and forward Amira Mabry had started all 25-games of the year before Thursday. In fact, the Wave’s starting guards to begin the year, Sadie Shores and Sneed, only got to be starters together for four games before Shores had an undisclosed injury, knocking her out since the LSU game.

Making her first start of the year was true freshman Shiloh Kimpson, who had nothing short of a brilliant game. The frosh from the outskirts of Dallas-Fort Worth, accounted for a dozen points, a team-high 10-assists, and second in rebounding with six.

"I was nervous," Kimpson she said about getting her first start, but she didn't show it. She and her Tulane mates were getting most loose balls all game long. "Being aggressive on defense (is how that was accomplished). When we are in a zone (defense), we talk about our guards getting the loose balls, especially when our bigs are blocking out."

First Quarter: Tulane 21 - Memphis 9

The Green Wave did a lot well in the first 10-minutes. The TU defense held the Tigers to 22% from the field, while hitting 58% of their shots. The Wave turned the ball over five times in the first five minutes of play, but only had one the rest of the period.

Leading the way, freshman guard Mecailin Marshall with a half-dozen points. Kanija Daniel had five, including a tres at the buzzer ending the first period.

Tulane had a slight rebound advantage after the first, getting 12-boards to the Tigers’ 9.

First Half: Tulane 39 - Memphis 20

Tulane totally dominated the first twenty minutes of play. Leading by as many as twenty points in the 2nd quarter, the Wave shot 50% from the field, while only allowing the Tigers a 28% clip. Memphis was 0-for-6 from three-point range, while the Green Wave was 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

TU’s defense forced the Tigers into eight turnovers in the first half. After a shaky start offensively five minutes into the contest, the Green Wave settled down, only giving the ball up only three more times in the final fifteen minutes of the first half for a total of 8-turnovers[.

The Green Wave also led the rebounding category with a 19-17 advantage. Dyllan Hanna led the way for Tulane with an impressive nine boards in the first half.

Leading scorer for the Wave after the first 20-minutes, this week’s American Conference freshman of the week, Mecailin Marshall with 10-points. Amira Mabry had seven. CC Mays had a half-dozen.

Third Quarter: Tulane 56 - Memphis 34

The Green Wave continued to own both ends of the court in the 3rd period. The Wave had cooled quite a bit from the field, hitting 29% of their shots, but the TU defense was still on target, holding Memphis to a meager 42% from the field.

Tulane was absolutely brilliant from the free throw line, the Wave hitting 16-of-18 through three.

Leading the Wave in scoring, Marshall with 13. Mays had 11. Hanna continued to scoop up the rebounds, getting 11 through three periods.

Final Score: Tulane 69 - Memphis 54

Though the Tigers worked their way to within thirteen of the Wave, it was never really close. Memphis couldn’t buy a three, hitting only two of their 13-attempts for the game.

The turnover game was a drastic improvement for the Wave. After starting the contest with five in the first five minutes, Tulane only committed six more for the rest of the 35-minutes of the game, while forcing Memphis to turn it over 19-times.

"We were just emphasizing to be active in the zone, and not allow any points in the paint," Mabry pointed out, which came to fruition, as Tulane had 36-points in the paint, while allowing only 26 for the tall, lanky Tigers.

Leading the way for Tulane offensively, Marshall with 15-points as the Green Wave had four in double digits. Kimpson had her dozen, plus Mabry and May with eleven apiece.

Though Memphis ended up winning the rebound battle, 40-34, it was another impressive night for the Wave's Hanna, who pulled down a game-high dozen.

This was easily the most dominant American Conference victory of the season for the Green Wave. With only two victories in a baker’s dozen AAC games, Memphis is one of the weakest teams in the league, Tulane showed that they will not play down to their competition, earning their first home conference victory in over a month, their second AAC win in Fogelman this season.

Tulane improves to 10-16 on the season, 5-9 in American play, placing the Green Wave all alone in the 10th and last slot to make it to the conference tournament, less than a month away. Memphis drops to 8-18 for the year, 2-11 in the AAC.

Tulane has the weekend off before the final four games on its schedule. Those contests alternate between away and home games. Next up, the Wave is on the road for a rematch against Tulsa on Tuesday, February 24th. The Hurricane upended Tulane in a close contest in Fogelman at the beginning of January, 76-73. Tulsa is in the 5th slot for the tournament as of this writing, with a 16-9 record for the year, 8-5 in league play.