Morgan scores 30 points in Tulane Women’s Hoops win at Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. – Kolby Morgan reached 30 points for the fifth time in her Tulane career in a 72-63 Green Wave victory over Tulsa at the Reynolds Center on Wednesday afternoon.

Morgan went 10-15 from the field and knocked down eight free throws to reach her 30 points, her second-best point total of the season. Morgan also had a team-high nine rebounds and added three assists and three steals to her line.

Tulane (9-6, 1-1 American Athletic Conference) got its first league win of the season and its fifth consecutive victory over Tulsa (7-8, 1-1).

Wednesday’s outcome was not always assured. With the Green Wave ahead by just 2 points at halftime, the Golden Hurricane fought to tie the game at 41-41 late in the third quarter on a layup from Erika Wakefield. But from there, Tulane went on a 7-0 run on a free throw from Harlyn Wyatt, two free throws from Morgan and baskets from Morgan and Kaila Anderson.

Still, the Hurricane did not go away. Tulsa cut Tulane’s lead to just 1 point early in the fourth quarter on another Wakefield layup with seven minutes to play. But back-to-back layups from Wyatt and Krystal Freeman gave Tulane a 5-point lead, and consecutive 3-pointers from Kayla Manuirirangi and Morgan following a Tulsa jumper made it a 62-53 lead for the Green Wave with 4:26 remaining.

Tulane maintained its lead for the rest of the afternoon at the free-throw line, as Morgan reached the 30-point mark from the charity stripe with 38 seconds left on the clock.

Besides Morgan’s big scoring night, Tulane had three others reach double figures. Manuirirangi finished with 12 points, Wyatt had 11 and Schulte had 11. Schulte led the Green Wave with four steals and also had seven rebounds.

Anderson was the team’s top passer with four assists, but Schulte, Wyatt and Morgan all had three. Wyatt also added two blocks.

The first quarter saw Tulane come out very strong, using a 13-3 run in the early stages to take a 9-point lead. But Tulsa responded late in the period, using a 5-0 run to close the period and make it just a 4-point Tulane lead through 10 minutes.

In the second quarter, Tulsa outscored Tulane 18-16 and took its first lead of the game midway through the period. With the contest tied at 25-25, Tulane scored 5 of the half’s final 8 points and took a 30-28 lead into halftime.

Tulane will return home on Saturday for its first American Athletic Conference game at Fogelman in Devlin this season. The Green Wave will take on the Houston Cougars at 2 p.m. in the teams’ first of two meetings this year.