Dominant fourth quarter gives Tulane Women’s Basketball win over Temple

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane women’s basketball team was tied at half and trailing by one point through 30 minutes, but the fourth quarter belonged to the Green Wave.

Tulane shot 64 percent from the field (9 of 14) and finally managed to pull away from Temple in a 69-65 victory over the Owls at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

Kolby Morgan scored a game-high 25 points for Tulane (12-12, 4-7 American Athletic Conference) and Meredith Schulte scored 14 – her highest point total since November – to lead the Green Wave over the Owls (10-13, 2-9). The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Tulane and a five-game losing streak against Temple that dated back to 2015.

Temple had a narrow 44-43 lead after the third quarter, but Tulane asserted itself over the final 10 minutes.

With Tulane holding a narrow 50-49 lead with 7:11 to play, the Green Wave went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes that finally gave the team some space from the Owls. Tatyana Lofton started the run with a 3-pointer, Morgan drained a layup and Schulte knocked down a layup of her own to make it a 57-49 edge for the home team.

Over the next three minutes, the Green Wave lead rose to 10 points on two free throws from Morgan, and an and-1 play by Maddison Wells kept Tulane ahead by 10 at 67-57 with 2:02 to play, effectively ending the game.

All told, Tulane hit seven of its final nine shots from the field while Temple made just 8 of 18 shots in the fourth quarter.

At game’s end, Tulane held a 40-30 edge in rebounding, turned the ball over just 10 times and scored 10 points on the fast break.

Besides Morgan and Schulte’s big scoring nights, Kayla Manuirirangi also reached double figures with 11 points. Morgan led the team with seven rebounds, and Manuirirangi had a team-best seven assists.

During the contest, Morgan made her 400th free throw, Wells grabbed her 100th rebound and Harlyn Wyatt got her 400th career rebound.

Tulane will embark on a two-game road trip through the AAC over the next 10 days, heading to Cincinnati and Memphis. First up on the road trip will be the Bearcats on Saturday with tipoff scheduled for 12 p.m. from Saint Ursula Academy.