Tulane defeats Temple in AAC Women’s Basketball Championship quarterfinals, 83-73

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Tulane University women’s basketball team defeated Temple, 83-73, in the quarterfinals of the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship on Tuesday.

Tulane (17-7) out-shot Temple (11-11) .500-.411 from the floor, .385-.333 from three and .824-.545 from the free throw line. The Green Wave logged 36 rebounds, 20 assists and eight blocks.

Senior Krystal Freeman led the Olive and Blue with 18 points and four rebounds. She shot 7-8 from the field and 2-2 from three on the game. Senior Sierra Cheatham filled up the stat sheet with 13 points, five rebounds, four blocks, three assists and three steals for Tulane.

“First of all, you are always nervous in the first round of the tournament,” Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. “You feel like it is really, really important that you play well and come out and get this win. Temple is a really good team, so we felt like we had to have our A-game. We shot really well. I thought our offense was really clicking. We are really happy to come out with a win and hopefully we will be fresh and ready to go tomorrow.”

Both sides traded baskets for the first five minutes of the third quarter with Tulane maintaining a 57-48 lead at the first media timeout. After a 4-0 run from Temple, Tulane responded with a 13-0 run to take a 72-52 lead. Senior Arsula Clark, junior Mia Heide, Freeman and freshman JerKaila Jordan all scored during the run for the Green Wave. Tulane was on top 73-54 headed into the fourth quarter.

Temple opened the fourth with a 6-0 run, but sophomore Irina Parau put an end to it for Tulane with a layup off the press break. The Owls cut Tulane’s lead to 13 with two minutes to play, but Tulane was able hold its advantage and took the game 83-73.

Sophomore Anijah Grant scored a career-high 11 points and added six rebounds off the bench for Tulane. Clark chipped in 14 points, three rebounds and four assists. The Green Wave forced Temple into 23 turnovers on the game and scored 20 points off the change of possession. The Green Wave logged 42 points in the paint, 21 off second chance and 28 off the bench.

The Owls tied the game at 12 with 3:05 left in the first then Tulane closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 21-14 lead into the second. Grant sparked the run with a jumper and two free throws.

After a three from junior Dynah Jones to start the quarter, Temple went on a 9-2 scoring run to cut Tulane’s lead to 26-23 with 6:58 left in the first half. Tulane then responded with an 8-2 run of its own behind six points from Grant to take a 34-25 lead with 3:49 left in the second quarter. Both sides traded blows down the stretch of the second quarter and Tulane snagged a 47-36 lead at the half.

In the first half, Freeman led the Green Wave with 12 points, Grant added 11 and Clark chipped in 10. Grant also logged a team-high five rebounds, while Clark dished out a team-best three assists. In the opening half, Tulane shot 54.4 (18-33) percent from the field, 50.0 (5-10) percent from three and 85.7 (6-7) percent from the free throw line. The Olive and Blue forced 13 Temple turnovers in the first half and scored nine points off the change of possession.

Up next, the Green Wave will face No. 1 seed and regular season champion South Florida, which rallied to defeat Wichita State 48-44 in the second quarterfinal of the day. Tipoff is at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in Dickies Arena.

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