Women’s hoops exit tournament

PHOTO | PARKER WATERS PHOTOGRAPHY

The 12th-seeded Tulane women’s basketball team proved to be a formidable test for fifth-seeded Georgia in its first NCAA tournament game since 2003. A noticeable height disadvantage, poor shooting and early postseason jitters, however, proved too much for the Green Wave to overcome. The Bulldogs pulled away at the end of the second half for a 64-59 victory that catapulted them to the second round and sent the Wave packing.

Tulane missed its first seven shots from the field and its first two free throw attempts as Georgia opened the game on a 10-0 run. After finally scoring with a Tiffany Aidoo layup, the Green Wave rolled off a 23-10 run that gave them a one-point lead with 4:17 left before halftime.

“That was really easy to figure out,” Tulane Head Coach Lisa Stockton said. “We were nervous. Just starting off, I don’t think anybody panicked, but we have a group of individuals who haven’t been here before and they wanted to win so badly. I knew if we could just let that first one fall, we would be OK, and we were. Our first timeout, we talked about how everyone just needed to take a deep breath.”

Down only 37-34 at the break, Tulane regained the lead 47-46 with 9:08 remaining courtesy of a three-pointer by senior guard Indira Kaljo. Georgia followed the basket with an 18-2 run, giving them a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.

“I think we went down defensively and made some key stops and got some key boards,” Georgia guard Ashley Houts said. “We got some boards offensively as well from the free throw line and some put-backs. We ran out a few times and got some quick points off our defensive plays and we tried to put it away that way. We were just trying to make a mental note that we needed to put it away and make some plays and that’s what we did.”

With 51 seconds remaining, junior guard Roshaunda Barnes hit a three-pointer that cut the Bulldogs’ lead to five points, but the Green Wave was held scoreless for the rest of the game.

“At the end of the game, it really showed what our team was made of all season,” junior guard Tiffany Aidoo said. “We can either have our heads down or walk with our heads up and learn from this and take it on to the next season.”

Tulane suffered one of its worst shooting performances of the season, hitting only 23 of 69 shots and 3 of 8 from the charity stripe. They were outrebounded 47-34 by a taller Georgia team led by 6-foot-5 center Angel Robinson and were hurt by the absence of junior forward Danielle Nunn, who was in foul trouble throughout the game.

“I saw them get a lot of rebounds. One thing with this year and losing a player like Brittany Lindsey, we just knew we had to do everything else well because rebounding was just not going to be our thing,” Stockton said. “That was the deciding factor in their run and they got some second chance shots and three-point plays. In those situations, there is not a whole lot we can do because we’re undersized. We really missed Danielle Nunn tonight, who had a fabulous year. She had two fouls early and then got hurt. She has been a real key for us all year.”

Barnes led the Wave offensively, scoring 17 points, three assists and three steals, while Bulldogs All-SEC guard Ashley Houts led all scorers with 22 points.

Following the contest, Stockton commended her team on its ability to push past the injury problems that it has experienced throughout this season. Tulane looks toward another possible tournament run next year, returning all but two seniors from this year’s team.

“Coaching is always a new challenge each year and we lost a couple starters last year and came back,” Stockton said. “This team just inspired me. We return all but two and we have a good recruiting class coming in, so we’re excited.”