Tulane Women’s Basketball moves to 3-0 on season with win over Washington

Sierra Cheatham had a career-high 22 points in the victory

NEW ORLEANS – Sophomore Sierra Cheatham posted a career-best 22 points and the Tulane women’s basketball team moved to 3-0 for the first time in four seasons with a 63-51 victory over Washington at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon.

The Tulane victory over Washington (2-1) was also the Green Wave’s second consecutive victory over a Power 5 conference opponent after defeating LSU on Thursday in Baton Rouge.

Cheatham’s career night came thanks to a flawless 5-of-5 performance from the field in the second half including a 3-of-3 effort from the 3-point line. And unlike Thursday’s game at LSU where the team struggled to hold a late lead, the Green Wave were strong in the finishing moments on Saturday when they outscored the Huskies 9-3 in the final three minutes.

Tulane led for the entirety of the game, but Washington made things tense when it got within 6 points at 54-48 with 3:23 left on the clock.

From there, though, Tulane went on a 9-0 run to ice the game. Anderson had a huge steal-and-score fast-break layup, extsending the Green Wave’s lead to 8 as the Huskies were on offense. From there, Anderson and freshman Erin Gutierrez combined for seven consecutive free throws, putting the game well out of reach.

Kayla Manuirirangi was Tulane’s only other scorer in double figures with 11 points, all of which came in the first half as she was the Green Wave player who seemingly could not miss. Krystal Freeman and Gutierrez had 8 points apiece, and Meredith Schulte tallied 7.

Cheatham and Gutierrez led the team with six rebounds apiece while Anderson had a team-best five assists. Schulte – who made her 200th career field goal during the game – and freshman Mia Heide topped Tulane with two blocks apiece.

The Green Wave got a stellar first-quarter performance from Manuirirangi, as the junior went 4 for 4 from the field and scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes. She opened the game with a 3-pointer, and Tulane led by as many as 8 over Washington. The Green Wave were up 19-13 after the first period.

Neither team got much going on offense early in the second quarter, with the teams combining to miss 16 consecutive field goal attempts. Schulte began the quarter by draining her first 3-pointer since her sophomore year, and she ended a long Tulane scoring drought with a layup five minutes later. Washington was struggling on offense as well, though, and the Green Wave’s lead was never erased as the team went into halftime up 33-29.

Freeman had a terrific third quarter, scoring 6 points on layups to keep the Green Wave ahead. And Cheatham knocked down two 3-pointers during the period as well as Tulane ended the quarter with a 7-point lead.

The Tulane defense was also excellent as it has been all season, giving up just 51 points to a Washington side that averaged 82 points per game in its first two contests of the year. The Green Wave held the Huskies to a mere 33 percent shooting from the field and just 15 percent from the 3-point line. Tulane’s defense has allowed 53.7 points per game in 2018-19.

The Green Wave return to the road next weekend, heading to San Diego to take part in a two-game tournament. Tulane will face its third consecutive Power 5 conference opponent on Friday when it plays Cal at 4 p.m. central.