Alabama defeats Tulane, 66-56

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women’s basketball team fell to Alabama, 66-56, Sunday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman in Devlin Fieldhouse.

Overall, Tulane (3-3) shot 23-for-61 from the field and 3-16 from three, while Alabama (4-1) was 22-for-58 from the field and 9-21 from behind the line. At the charity stripe, Alabama went 13-for-19 and Tulane was 7-for-11. The Green Wave held the rebound advantage 39-38 and the edge in points in the paint, 22-20.

“I think this is just disappointing for us,” Green Wave head coach Lisa Stockton said. “We were down four going into the fourth quarter and we really felt like we had played ourselves into a situation where we could win the game. We locked down on defense, we outrebounded them and we held our turnovers down. In the fourth quarter, we had some costly turnovers and didn’t execute some plays. I think it’s a matter of being able to finish a game and being able to execute. We got some shots, but we missed them. It’s just the way we finished. I’m really disappointed in that.”

The Green Wave had three players scoring in the double digits. Sophomore Mia Heide and junior Arsula Clark led the team, scoring 12 points apiece. Junior Krystal Freeman also contributed 10 points and six rebounds for Tulane.

After the first quarter, the Green Wave and Alabama were tied at 19-19. Junior Kaila Anderson and Clark led the way, with six points each. Anderson also had three assists and two rebounds. After falling down 12-4 early in the first, the Wave went on a 15-7 run to tie the game.

Alabama started the second quarter with an 8-2 run before a wing jumper from Freeman pulled the Wave to within five, 27-23. The Crimson Tide would pull further away until a 6-0 run by Heide cut Alabama’s lead to just two points before halftime, 31-29.

Heide led Tulane at the half with nine points to go along with four rebounds. The Green Wave shot 13-for-33 from the field and 2-for-12 from three. Alabama was 12-for-32 from the field and 5-for-14 from three.

A three from junior Sierra Cheatham with a little over three minutes to go in the third tied the score at 39-39. Free throws from redshirt freshman Dene’ Mimms with three minutes remaining in the third would give the Green Wave their first lead of the game.

However, Alabama would retake the lead before the end of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Green Wave battled back cutting the deficit to within two points on two separate occasions, but were unable to take the lead as Alabama would hold on for the 10-point victory.

Jordan Lewis led the Crimson Tide with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. Jasmine Walker also added 13 points for Alabama.

Up next, the Green Wave will travel to San Juan for the Puerto Rico Classic, where they will take on Boston College (Nov. 28) and Charlotte (Nov. 29).