Stockton goes for 600th coaching win Wednesday as Tulane hosts UCF

 
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane women’s basketball will host UCF on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. as the Green Wave will attempt to win their seventh straight American Athletic Conference game.

QUEST FOR 600
• Tulane women’s basketball coach Lisa Stockton has compiled 599 wins in her career. With one more win, she will become just the 77th NCAA women’s basketball coach to achieve the feat of winning 600 games in a career. Stockton will be the 19th active Division I head coach with 600 wins.

SERIES HISTORY – CENTRAL FLORIDA
• The Green Wave and the Knights have met 25 times in
program history with Tulane holding a 14-11 edge.
• UCF took the meeting between the two teams earlier this season by a score of 66-62 in Orlando.
• The Green Wave shot 22-55 from the floor, but went 12-23 from the free throw line earlier this season against UCF.
• Freshman JerKaila Jordan led the Olive and Blue with 12 points, while senior Krystal Freeman added 11 points and nine rebounds.
• Masseny Kaba led the Knights with 15 points in the first meeting.
• Tulane has a 13-9 record against UCF under head coach Lisa Stockton.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
• The Knights are 10-2 overall and 8-1 in AAC play heading into the matchup on Wednesday. Their lone conference loss came at Temple on Jan. 9.
• UCF picked up a 70-51 win over Cincinnati in their last game, after coming off a two-week COVID pause.
• The Knights lead the nation by holding opponents to 49.3 points per game. They have also held  teams to 33.0 percent shooting on the season, which is fourth in the NCAA.
• UCF leads the conference in scoring defense (49.3), field goal percentage defense (.331), 3-point field goal percentage (.333) and rebounding defense (31.8). The Knights also rank in the top five of the conference in scoring margin, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage defense, rebound margin, steals defensive rebound percentage and offensive rebound percentage.
• Senior Courtajia Sanders leads the Knights with 11.2 points per game this season. She also adds 5.0 rebounds.
• Junior Brittney Smith is tops on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game. She also contributes 11.1 points per game. Smith was named AAC Player of the Week on Monday, Feb. 15, after posting 25 points and 12 rebounds in the win over Cincinnati.
• Junior Diamond Battles adds 10.6 points and a team-high 4.0 assists per game.
• Head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson holds an all-time
record of 99-42 during her five seasons at UCF. Abrahamson-Henderson previously made stops at Missouri State and Albany. She holds a 340-150 career record.

AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS
• Tulane ranks among the league’s top five in 17 different statistical categories.
• The Green Wave lead the conference in field goal percentage at .433. They rank second the conference in scoring (69.0), scoring margin (+9.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.0).
• Tulane is the only team in The American to have three players ranked in the top 12 in scoring. Freshman JerKaila Jordan is third in the conference with 14.8, while senior Krystal Freeman is eighth at 13.1 and Arsula Clark 12th at 12.1 points per game.

JORDAN SETS RECORDS
• Freshman JerKaila Jordan has won five American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week awards this season.
•  Jordan is now tied with Cincinnati’s IImar’I Thomas (2017-18), Rutgers’ Tyler Scaife (2013-14) and Temple’s Feyonda Fitzgerald (2013-14) for the all-time conference record for freshman of the week awards by a single player.

FRESHMAN LEADS THE WAY
• Freshman Jerkaila Jordan currently leads the Green Wave with 14.8 points, 55 assists and 37 steals.
• She is second on the team with 13 blocked shots and 20 made threes.
• Jordan has scored in double figures in 16 of the Green Wave’s 19 games.
• The New Orleans native is 10th all-time in scoring among freshmen in program history. She currenly has 281 points on the year.

BATES COMES UP BIG
• Sophomore Salma Bates has made a habit of coming up big for the Green Wave recently. She scored the last five points to solidify the Green Wave’s 61-59 win over Cincinnati.
• She followed that up by having a career day against Tulsa. Bates posted the first double-double of her career with and led Tulane with career highs of 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The New Orleans native shot 7-9 from the field against the Golden Hurricane.
• Bates finished off the week with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists against Wichita State. The Kenner, La., native was placed on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll for her efforts.

STOCKTON THE LEGEND
• Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton has amassed 599 NCAA wins in her 30-year coaching career. This number currently ranks 19th among all active Division I coaches. Stockton has the most wins of any coach in the American Athletic Conference.

WINS AMONG ACTIVE COACHES
1. Tara VanDerveer, Stanford – 1,112
…
17. Delaney Smith, Harvard – 617
18. Mike McLaughlin, Penn – 606
19. Lisa Stockton, Tulane – 599

MORE THAN A QUARTER CENTURY WITH COACH
• Now in her 27th year with the Green Wave women’s basketball program in 2020-21 it’s hard to imagine anyone else at the helm besides Coach Lisa Stockton. Her numbers are staggering: three different conferences, four conference tournament championships, two conference regular-season championships, six All-Americans, 11 NCAA Tournament berths, seven WNIT spots and 536 wins. No one in the history of Tulane women’s basketball is even close to Stockton’s career numbers.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Coming up soon:
• Krystal Freeman is 49 rebounds from 700.
• Sierra Cheatham is 26 points from 700.
• Kaila Anderson is 23 assists from 300.
• Arsula Clark is 91 rebounds from 700.
• Clark is 23 assists from 300.

UP NEXT
• The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 20, as they travel to play No. 12 USF. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Tampa.

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane women’s basketball (@GreenWaveWBB) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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