Tulane Women on the Road this Afternoon to Play the Top in the AAC
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Fresh off a second-straight victory, the Tulane women’s basketball team will look to keep building on the momentum as the Green Wave travels for a match-up against American-leader Rice tomorrow. With forecasted inclement weather in the area, the tip-off time for the contest was pushed up one hour to 1:00 p.m. The game will still stream on ESPN+ and can be heard on WRBH 88.3 FM and through the Varsity Network App.
This will be the 33rd all-time meeting between the programs with Tulane holding an 18-14 lead in the series, which dates back to 1980. Since joining the American entering the 2023-24 campaign, Rice has won two of the last three meetings. The teams split their match-ups last year with the road team winning each one. First, Rice won 72-64 in New Orleans on January 1, but Tulane exacted revenge in Houston on February 5 with a 78-67 victory. Dating back to the last time the two programs shared a conference, Conference USA, Tulane has won five of the last seven meetings. This includes each of the last three that have been played in Houston. Something will have to give as the Wave has claimed back-to-back road victories, but Rice is a perfect 8-0 at home this season.
Tulane Playing the Hottest Team in the Conference
The Owls are 16-3 with an unblemished 6-0 clip in American play. Rice has won 11 games in a row and last lost by one point to UCF, 57-56, on November 28 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Earlier this week, the Owls bested Tulsa, 78-66, in Oklahoma. Rice boasts a scoring offense of 70.1 with a shooting clip of 39.1 percent. From three, the Owls shoot 31.6 percent. Rice averages 40.2 rebounds and 14.2 assists per game. The team protects the ball well with just 13.7 turnovers per game. Dominique Ennis leads on both ends of the floor with 12.9 points per game and a steals average of 1.8. Hailey Adams records a rebounding clip of 10.9 with 3.9 helpers per game. The head coach of the program is Lindsay Edmonds in her fifth year at the helm. She has an 88-57 record in her career.
Green Wave Starting to Show Improvement
Tulane is 8-10 on the season with a 3-3 mark in conference action. The Wave earned a win over UAB Saturday in a back-and-forth 73-68 match-up at home. This marked a second-straight win for the Wave, the first such instance this season. Tulane touts a scoring offense of 70.1 and shoots at a 41.3 percent clip overall and 29.4 percent beyond the arc. With 40.17 rebounds per game, Tulane ranks fourth in the conference. Powered by 14.2 offensive rebounds per game, the team is third in the league and 54th nationally. Ball movement has been paramount as Tulane is second in the conference with 15.6 assists per contest. Kanija Daniel is the team’s top scorer at 11.9 points per game as one of three averaging in double figures. She is joined by Amira Mabry (10.7) and Mecailin Marshall (10.4). Dyllan Hanna leads on the glass with a mark of 7.2 per game, 10th in the American. Kendall Sneed is fifth in the conference with 4.3 assists per game.
Recognition for TU Pair
The week opened on a high note for Tulane, as a duo of Wave players earned weekly recognition by the American. Shiloh Kimpson was tabbed as American Freshman of the Week with Daniel securing an honorable mention nod. Kimpson became the second Wave freshman honored this season, joining Marshall. This was Daniel’s second honorable mention recognition of the campaign. Kimpson had a breakout week after posting a career-high 11 points at Temple, her first game ever in double figures. She then added 10 points against UAB with her first two three-pointers alongside a career-best five assists.
Tulane remains on the road to begin next week as the Wave travels to face Memphis. Tip-off against the Tigers is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. 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.