Defense leads first-place Tulane women to victory over Cincinnati, 64-59

Wave Move to 5-0 in American Athletic Conference Play

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women’s basketball team defeated Cincinnati, 64-59, in Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse in head coach Lisa Stockton’s 800th game coached at Tulane. The win pushed the Green Wave to 5-0 in American Athletic Conference play, which ties the 2002-03 team’s 5-0 start in Conference USA as the best start to the conference season in Stockton’s 26 season at the helm for Tulane.

“I’m very fortunate that I’ve had more ups than downs at Tulane,” Stockton said. “I think that so many coaches don’t have the opportunity to be at one place so long and I feel so grateful that I have. I’ve had so many wonderful student-athletes come through here, so it’s been a dream come true for me.”

Tulane (10-8, 5-0) outrebounded Cincinnati (11-6, 2-2) 46-38. The Green Wave shot 44.1 (26-59) percent from the floor and 35.7 (5-14) from three, while holding the Bearcats to 31.3 (21-67) percent overall and 21.1 (4-19) from behind the arc. The Olive and Blue logged 15 assists, 10 blocks and 38 points in the paint on the night.

“I think our players have done a great job as we’ve started conference play of just doing whatever it took,” Stockton said. “Obviously, Krystal Freeman had 30 at SMU and today they really covered her up. Some other people showed up for us tonight. I’m just really proud of our energy. Defensively, it was probably one of our best performances.”

Junior Arsula Clark led the charge for the Green Wave with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Sophomore Mia Heide snagged a career-high 14 rebounds, while sophomore Dynah Jones scored a season-high 17 points.

“I just kept attacking the creases of their defense and taking what I could get,” Clark said.

Cincinnati cut the Tulane lead to 28-24 with 7:31 left in the third then the Green Wave went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 35-24. After two buckets from the Bearcats, Jones scored five straight points to push the score to 41-29 with 2:50 left in the third. The Olive and Blue led 47-38 going into the fourth quarter.

The Bearcats tied the game at 54 with four minutes to play. Tulane responded with a layup from freshman Dene’ Mimms, but Cincinnati grabbed a 57-56 lead with 2:20 to play. Junior Krystal Freeman drove to the basket for layup to put Tulane up 58-57 on the next possession. After another bucket from UC, Jones scored four straight to give the Olive and Blue the lead for good. Free throws from senior Kayla Manuirirangi and Freeman set the final score at 64-59.

In the first quarter, the Green Wave jumped out to an 11-6 lead behind Clark’s five and junior Sierra Cheatham’s four points. Heide grabbed six rebounds in the opening quarter.

Cincinnati tied the game at 14 with 3:30 left in the second quarter. The Olive and Blue responded with a 10-3 run to close the half and take a 24-17 lead into the break.

In the first half, Tulane held UC to 22.6 (7-31) percent shooting from the field and 11.1 (1-9) percent from three. The Green Wave outrebounded the Bearcats 28-16 behind Heide’s 11 first half boards. Clark led the Wave with eight points and three assists, while Cheatham and senior Kayla Manuirirangi added six points apiece.

“I really focused on getting number 23 [Iimar’I Thomas] out of the lane,” Heide said. “We knew she was a beast on the boards, so I was really focusing on getting her out and snatching them.”

Up next, the Green Wave will be back in action as they host UCF on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Fogelman in Devlin.

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Tickets for the 2019-20 season can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

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