Tulane Women Look to Break Three-Game Skid at South Florida
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The Tulane women’s basketball team hits the road for the first time in two weeks with a battle at South Florida (USF) tomorrow night. Tip-off against the Bulls is set for 6:00 p.m. CT in the Yuengling Center with the contest streaming on ESPN+. It can also be heard on the radio on WRBH 88.3 FM or through the Varsity Network App.
This will be the 54th all-time meeting between the programs with USF leading the all-time series 33-20. The Bulls have won each of the last five match-ups and 24 of the last 25 contests. Tulane’s most recent win over the Bulls was on February 6, 2022, a 67-55 triumph in Tampa. The teams squared off just once last season, a 69-59 Bulls victory in the American Conference Tournament.
Scouting the Bulls
USF is 13-10 on the campaign with a 6-4 American record, good for fourth in the conference standings. The Bulls lost last time out on the road against East Carolina, 64-62, on Wednesday, February 4. USF holds a scoring offense of 70.6 and shoots 44.0 percent overall and 32.6 percent beyond the arc. The Bulls collect 39.3 rebounds per game and top the conference with 16.0 helpers per game. Edyn Battle is the program’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per game. The duo of Carla Brito and L’or Mputu tie for the rebounding lead at 8.0 apiece, and Stefanie Ingram leads the way in both assists (5.6) and steals (1.3). The Bulls are led by head coach Michelle Woods-Baxter in her first season at the helm.
Green Wave Stumbling of Late
Tulane is 8-13 with a 3-6 conference record. The Green Wave dropped a close contest to Charlotte, 47-44, on Wednesday at home last time out. The Wave puts forth a scoring offense of 68.1 while shooting 40.7 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from three. Tulane is third in the American with 40.2 rebounds per game and second in the conference with 15.2 assists per contest. With 3.8 blocks per game, Tulane is fifth in the league. Kanija Daniel remains the team’s leading scorer at 11.7 points per game. Dyllan Hanna leads on the glass at 7.0 per game, good for10th in the conference. Kendall Sneed ranks sixth in the league with 4.1 assists per game. Hanna and Daniel lead the blocking efforts with 1.4 and 1.0 per game, respectively. They are both in the top five of the conference for blocking, making Tulane the only school in the league with two players in the top five.
Tulane Individual Leaders
Hanna has been on a tear recently and seemingly can’t miss. In conference games, she posts a league-best 67.2 field goal percentage. This is nearly five percent better than the next-best mark in the conference, UAB’s Monae’ Duffy at 62.7 percent. Over Hanna’s last two games, she has knocked down 17 of her last 19 shots after an 11-of-13 effort against Temple and a perfect 6-of-6 night against Charlotte.
Amira Mabry is nearing a major milestone, needing just five more points to accrue 1,000 for her career. She will become the 33rd member of the Tulane’s 1,000 point club.
The Wave returns home next week to host East Carolina. Tip-off against the Pirates is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Fogelman Arena.
Portions 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.