Women crush ULM
Poor shot selection and dismal free throw shooting allowed Louisiana-Monroe to hang with the Tulane women for one half, but the Green Wave pulled away from the Warhawks in a season-opening 86-52 win Friday at Fogelman Arena, fueled by an unrelenting defense and strong performances by returning starters.
“I feel very good about [the game],” Tulane Head Coach Lisa Stockton said. “Our shooting percentage was good, and we came out in the second half and scored 51 points. We came out of the locker room ready to play in the second half.”
Tulane (1-0) shot 54.7 percent from the floor, while also hitting 6 of 12 shots from three-point range. Senior guard Chassity Brown led all scorers with 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Senior Indira Kaljo scored 15 second-half points and junior Brittany Lindsay contributed 14 points.
Despite their prolific offensive production, however, the Green Wave sustained a first-half lead largely due to the 14 first-half turnovers by the Warhawks. Five different Tulane players finished the game with at least two steals.
“I thought that our defense was holding pretty well,” Stockton said. “We just came down and took some bad shots in the first half, and I thought that’s how they really got back in it. We had a five-minute stretch where I thought we took a lot of quick shots — some bad shots — and then they went and scored.”
Tulane led the contest 35-29 at halftime despite a poor free throw shooting performance. Though they finished 10 of 21 from the line, the team hit only 3 of 12 free throws in the first half.
“In the second half, Coach told us to go back down there on offense, take better shots because we didn’t have a very good shot selection in the first half and just knock the shots down,” freshman guard Olivia Grayson said. “We had open shots; we just weren’t hitting them. Our free throws in the first half were horrible. In the second half, we made our free throws.”
The Green Wave came out of the locker room strong, going on a 37-8 run, including a 17-0 run to start the half. They led by as many as 35 points in their fourth consecutive victory over UL-Monroe (0-1).
Grayson, a local prep star at Chapelle High School, enjoyed her own cheering section in her college debut. A sizeable section of fans came to the arena wearing shirts that read “Turtle,” a nickname Grayson picked up when she was nine years old.
“The t-shirts were a total surprise. It’s a little embarrassing, actually,” Grayson said. “I was a little nervous, because being from here, there’s a little more pressure. But I just went out and played. I talked to one of my cousins before the game and I was just telling her how nervous I was to play in my first college game. She said ‘You’ve been playing this game your whole life, just go out there and have fun.’ And that’s what I did.”
Grayson finished her first game in a Tulane uniform having played more minutes than any other player on the roster. The 5-foot-8 point guard added seven points, eight rebounds and 10 assists for the Green Wave.
“That was a great performance [by Grayson], Stockton said. “I think that shows a lot about her tonight. I think she had 70 people here tonight with shirts with Turtle on them and it shows what kind of player she is. She’s excited, she’s nervous and she almost has a triple-double. She’s going to be a great player.”
Sophomore center Brett Benzio, the nation’s No. 2 freshman rebounder a year ago, contributed a double-double for the Green Wave, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Tulane scored 16 fast break points against UL-Monroe, while holding them to none.
Forward Sannisha Williams led the Warhawks with a team-high 10 points and eight rebounds.
Stockton appeared pleased with the group of guards tasked with replacing graduated starting point guard Ashley Langford.
“I think we have a lot of versatility there. We’ve got some speed, some scorers, some of our guards play the post. So we’re really able to get some mismatches, get to the basket and get some free throws,” Stockton said. “But the nice thing is we’ve got a lot of experience at that position. A lot of the other players have played a lot of minutes in the past.”
The Green Wave returns to action 3:45 p.m. today in the Navy Classic in Annapolis, Md. against Liberty.