Tulane Women Split Season Series with Temple, Falling in OT, 67-65
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In a game that featured the Tulane women sporting their Mardi Gras duds, Temple came to New Orleans, looking for revenge from their 13-point loss in Philadelphia two weeks ago. It took an extra five-minutes of play, but using a cold shooting Green Wave team from the outside, the visiting Owls got even for the year, taking a 67-65 overtime victory over the Wave.
"I thought we fought hard today," Tulane coach Angela Langford told us after the game. "I think the game could have gone either way. We talk a lot about putting ourselves in position to win the game. I thought we did that today."
First Quarter: Temple 13 - Tulane 11
The Green Wave opened the game sluggishly, showing some rust after having their mid-week game at Memphis postponed due to inclement weather in Tennessee. The Wave turned totaled 8-turnovers in the first 10-minutes of the game and shot just 29% from the field.
The Tulane defense, though, came through allowing the Owls to shoot a not-much-better 30% from the field. And the Wave was tenacious for loose balls and rebounds, seeming to come up with almost every basketball wandering around the court and getting the same number of rebounds as Temple, a dozen.
First Half: Temple 26 - Tulane 25
Despite shooting an abysmal 1-of-10 from three-point land, Tulane climbed back into the game by relying on an outstanding defense and some solid free throw shooting. The Green Wave hit eight of their nine shots from the charity stripe while Temple only had one shot at the free throw line, making that. On the defensive end, the Wave shut down the Owls. Though Temple had nine more shots on goal, the Owls only hit 34% of them.
Senior Amira Mabry led the way for the Green Wave at the half with 9-points, including a three from the left wing. Guard CC Mays pulled down five rebounds, leading the team at the midway point. The graduate student from Tampa also dished out three assists, as did junior guard Kanija Daniel.
Third Quarter: Temple 44 - Tulane 43
The game could not have been more even than it was in the third quarter. Both teams were having some success front the field. The Greenies shot 42.1% while Temple hit 43.8%. Rebounding was essentially even with the Owls grabbing 13 and the Wave claiming 10.
The inside game was starting to work for Tulane. Dyllan Hanna led the way with 15-points. Mabry had 14.
Fourth Quarter: Tulane 56 - Temple 56
Back and forth went the two teams, as Temple took as large as a 5-point lead in what is usually the final stanza. Tulane tied it twice in that last 10-minutes of play, the most important of those ties came with three-second remaining in regulation when Kanija Daniel swished a three-pointer sending the game into overtime.
Overtime/Final: Temple 67 - Tulane 65
The Green Wave took a 4-point lead on their first two shots of OT off a pair of back-to-back driving layups by CC Mays and Daniel. Temple came back to tie it up. The Wave had the ball with with 11-seconds on the clock and the score tied at 65. A CC Mays pass was picked off by the Owls, who drove the other way, taking the lead for good with 5-seconds to go in overtime.
Points in the paint were big for the Wave, as Dyllan Hanna lead Tulane with 23-points and eight rebounds. Mabry added 17 along with her five defensive boards.
"Amira and Dyllan did their thing," Langford told us after the game. "We've been talking about going inside. They stepped up today and produced. Our guards have to produce as well."
The Tulane backcourt kept missing wide open shots and/or layups, shooting 23% from the floor.
"Our guards have got to get in the gym (and practice)," Langford lamented. "They went 9-for-39 today. That's not okay. They've got to take more pride in getting in the gym and being able to make shots."
The loss drops Tulane to 8-12 on the season, 3-5 in American Conference play. Temple improves to 10-11 for the year, 4-5 in AAC games.
The Green Wave are back home Wednesday night, hosting Charlotte at 6:30 in Fogelman.
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.