UNCASVILLE, Conn. – No. 5 seed Tulane advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2020 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship for the fifth time with a 67-61 win over No. 12 Tulsa on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Green Wave will take on No. 4 seed USF on Saturday at noon (ET) on ESPN3.
 
Arsula Clark paced Tulane with a game-high 20 points. Krystal Freeman turned in a 17-point, seven-rebound showing in the win for the Green Wave, and Mia Heide chipped in eight points and 11 boards. KK Rodriguez led Tulsa with 17 points and four steals, and Kendrian Elliott logged a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Tulsa closed the opening quarter by hitting seven of its final nine field goal attempts to open a 25-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes. The Golden Hurricane lead swelled to 12 at 27-15 in the second quarter before Tulane embarked on an 8-0 run to close the gap to four (27-23). The Green Wave defense kept Tulsa off the scoreboard for over four minutes to pull within one at 33-32, but Rebecca Lescay drilled a jumper late in the quarter to send the Golden Hurricane to the locker room in front 35-32.
 
Tulane re-took the lead for the first time since the 6:28 mark of the first quarter following two Clark free throws in the third quarter (36-35). Elliott immediately answered with a layup at the other end to lift Tulsa back ahead at 37-36. A Freeman 3-pointer for Tulane and a Rodriguez and-1 layup for Tulsa pushed the Golden Hurricane back into the lead at 40-39. Destiny Johnson buried a clutch three for Tulsa to tie the game at 49 early in the final quarter, but Tulane’s Heide responded with a layup on the other end to guide the Green Wave ahead by two (51-49). Tulane would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the way and hit six of its final eight shots from the field to preserve the victory.
 
Fans can watch the entire tournament on ESPN platforms, including ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPN2.
 
For full coverage of this week’s American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, visit theamerican.org/wbb and follow @American_WBB on Twitter.