Tulane Women’s Basketball holds on for win at McNeese

LAKE CHARLES – The Tulane women’s basketball team used clutch free-throw shooting to survive a late scare in a 70-66 victory over McNeese State at Burton Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The Green Wave (4-3) hit nine free throws in the game’s final 65 seconds, stopping the Cowgirls (3-3) from completing their 11-point comeback.

Despite Tulane hitting all those free throws, McNeese State still had a chance to take the lead late. After a Kayla Manuirirangi free throw gave the Green Wave a 68-66 lead with 19 seconds to play, Cowgirl guard Dede Sheppard had a wide open 3-point attempt to give her side the lead. The shot bounced off the back of the rim, Kolby Morgan got a rebound and iced the game with two more free throws.

“We had a nice lead and just threw that away, but I do think we shot free throws very well and were able to rebound at the end of the game to get some extra possessions,” Coach Lisa Stockton said. “We come out with a win on the road, and it’s going to be nice to eventually get back home.”

Morgan led all scorers with 25 points, and Tulane had four in double figures. Tene Thompson put up 15 points, Meredith Schulte had 12 and Harlyn Wyatt had 10. Wyatt was the team’s leading rebounder with seven while Schulte added six, Manuririangi had a team-high four assists. Wyatt led Tulane with three blocks, and Thompson had a team-high three steals.

Wednesday night was Tulane’s first game with four double-digit scorers all season.

“Tene hit some timely baskets that were really, really valuable for us,” Stockton said. “We definitely have to [get scoring from the whole team], and that definitely has to be part of the plan.”

After a sloppy second quarter, Tulane came out firing in the third. The team made six field goals and added seven points at the free-throw line, taking a 5-point lead over McNeese State at 44-39. But earlier in the period, the Green Wave led by as many as 11 with 2:36 left in the third quarter before the Cowgirls closed the quarter on a 7-1 run.

Tulane had another seemingly comfortable lead of 64-58 with just 38 seconds to play, but McNeese was not done. A layup by Keara Hudnall cut the Green Wave lead to 4, and Mercedes Rodgers added a layup on an and-1 play on the Cowgirls’ next possession to make it 67-64 with 21 seconds to play. Rodgers missed her free-throw attempt, but McNeese got the offense rebound and was fouled immediately by Tulane. Two free throws later, and it was a 67-66 lead for Tulane with 20 seconds to play.

Manuirirangi hit one of two free throws on Tulane’s next possession, and that was followed by Sheppard’s missed 3-pointer that allowed Morgan to seal the game with two more free throws.

Neither team shot well in the first half, with Tulane hitting just 8 of 27 shots and McNeese sinking 9 of 36 shots. Morgan had 10 points to lead the Green Wave at halftime, and the teams went into the locker room knotted up at 23-23.

Tulane finished the game shooting 37 percent (20-54) from the field, and McNeese was 31 percent (22-71) in that category.

During the game, Morgan picked up her 50th career block, Schulte got her 200th defensive rebound and Manuririangi scored her 100th career point.

Tulane will play its final road non-conference game of the year on Sunday, heading to Raleigh to take on North Carolina State. The Green Wave and Wolfpack will tip off at 1 p.m. central.