Weaver’s Late Heroics Secure 74-72 Win for Tulane in Season Opener
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Final Score: Tulane 74 - Campbell 72
With the game tied at 72 and the final seconds beginning to tick away Monday night in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, the Tulane University women’s basketball team needed a hero to avoid overtime against Campbell. Graduate transfer Jordyn Weaver stepped up, providing a clutch put-back bucket with just two seconds remaining to notch the 74-72 season-opening victory over Campbell University.
Registering with exactly 2.0 on the game clock, Weaver’s score is the first Wave game winner with two or less seconds left since last season when Sherese Pittman scored with under a second remaining to down Florida on November 28, 2024. A graduate transfer, Weaver made her Green Wave debut tonight with the basket marking her first wearing the Olive and Blue. Tulane has now won 19 of its last 20 season openers.
The Green Wave shot 43.5 percent in the contest and 40.0 percent from three, besting the 35.2 percent and 32.1 percent marks, respectively, of the Fighting Camels. Campbell won the boards 43-29, but Tulane claimed the turnover battle with 16 committed and 19 forced. The Wave doubled up the Camels on steals with 10 swipes. Tulane recorded 21 points off turnovers and 12 fast break points. Campbell had just 15 points off turnovers and only four via fast break. Despite losing the offensive board battle 23-11, the Wave proved better in the paint with 38 points inside to the 26 of the Camels. A tight contest, the game featured nine ties and 10 lead changes.
Amira Mabry paced the squad with 19 points, and Kendall Sneed joined her in double figures with 14. Sadie Shores fell just short with nine as CC Mays added eight. On the glass, Mabry tied with Jayda Brown for the team lead as they each had five to highlight a balanced rebounding effort. Mecailin Marshall had four with the trio of Sneed, Mays, and Dyllan Hanna each grabbing three to mark six players with three or more. Mays and Kanija Daniel tied for the team lead with five assists apiece. Sneed dished four helpers.
On defense, Brown and Hanna each tallied two blocks with Daniel adding one. Six Wave players recorded a steal with Daniel’s trio topping the team. Mabry and Sneed each had two, and Shores, Mays, and Jordyn Weaver all had one.
Tulane Bench Played Some Minutes
Tulane ran deep in the first game of the campaign, playing 11 of the 14 players on roster. Nine of them scored in the game with 10 playing at least 20 minutes. Tulane had 19 bench points to best Campbell’s tally of nine. This includes Weaver’s game winner, which accounted for her only two points of the night.
The Wave claimed the opening tip and immediately cashed in as Kendall Sneed survived contact to put home a layup. After a Campbell three, the teams traded blows until a six-point run for the Camels put them ahead 11-6. Jayda Brown’s three kept Tulane in striking distance, but Campbell got hot from distance and notched two threes in the final 1:41 of play. Amira Mabry closed the first quarter with a layup, but Tulane trailed 27-19 after the opening 10 minutes.
After swapping scores to begin quarter two, Mabry struck from three to kick off spell of four-straight three-pointers between the teams. Campbell answered beyond the arc before CC Mays delivered her first points in a Tulane uniform from distance. Yet, the Camels had a response from deep. Down 35-27, Sneed put home a pair at the charity stripe for the Wave with a press thusly implemented. The pressure provided a spark for Tulane, who embarked on a 14-3 run over the final five minutes of the quarter. Most notably, in a 40-second span from the 4:55 mark to 4:15 on the clock, the Wave grabbed three-straight steals with Kanija Daniel responsible for two and Sneed one. The back half of quarter two saw threes by Mays and Brown. The 22-point frame pushed Tulane in front 41-38 at the break.
After Campbell opened the second half with a three, Sadie Shores took control for Tulane with back-to-back scores and a steal all in the span of a minute. The Camels chipped away to pull level at 47-47 with 6:53 on the clock before Mabry pushed the Wave back in front with a score. Daniel provided some separation with a trey shortly thereafter. With neither side willing to give an inch, Campbell pulled level and then grabbed a slight edge with a pair of free throws. Tamiah Robinson’s layup in the final minute of quarter three tied the game back up, and the score remained even at 56 going into the decisive quarter.
Some Back and Forth in Half #2
The final stanza provided plenty of drama with four ties and lead changes. Two of those ties came in the hectic final two minutes of play. With back-to-back scores late in the quarter, Campbell pulled ahead by six points, 68-62. Undeterred, the Wave responded with a Dyllan Hanna layup, and Robinson buried a key three with 3:09 on the clock to bring Tulane within one, 68-67. Both defenses clamped down from there, with the next score not coming until the 1:48 mark by way of a Shores corner three for the lead, 70-68. The Camels fought back with a lay-in 25 seconds later, and Shores again provided a lead with a pair of free throws. With 29 seconds to go, Campbell secured a score to tie the game at 72 and seemingly force overtime unless Tulane could put forth late heroics. With the shot clock off, the Wave set up for one last play, but the mid-range shot bounced off the rim, However, there was just enough time on the clock, and Jordyn Weaver stepped up with a big offensive rebound and immediate put-back jumper that connected with 2.0 seconds showing on the clock to secure the 74-72 victory for Tulane.
At 1-0 to begin the season, Tulane continues its four-game homestand on Thursday, November 6, by welcoming SEC foe Missouri to the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. against the Tigers with the contest streaming on ESPN+.
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.