Thursday, February 10
Tulane 76, Memphis 74
Behind a season-high 28 points from redshirt senior Krystal Freeman Tulane University women's basketball (15-7, 6-4) claimed its fourth consecutive win defeating the Memphis Tigers 76-74 on the road. Freeman shot an impressive 58 (11-of-19) percent from the field and knocked down four three-pointers while pulling down a team-high nine rebounds in the contest.
With the victory, Tulane picked up the season sweep over the Tigers and earned its second-straight road win against American Athletic Conference opponents.
A trio for the Green Wave joined Freeman with double figures in scoring. Arsula Clark filled the stat sheet with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Dynah Jones followed with 14 points and five boards while Moon Ursin rounded out the top scorers with 12 points.
Tulane took advantage of easy buckets scoring 19 fast break points to help post a final shooting percentage of 48.1 percent. The Wave proved to have success inside and out as it outrebounded the Tigers 39-38 and connected at a 47.1 percent clip beyond the arc.
After falling behind 4-0 to open the contest, Tulane scored the next nine points to take its first lead of the night. Memphis came back with the next seven points before the teams would exchange the lead a couple more times with the Tigers holding the last advantage of the frame at 16-14.
Freeman found her rhythm in the second quarter as the Green Wave stormed back to take the lead. After the first seven-plus minutes of the quarter went back-and-forth, Arsula Clark picked off a Tiger pass and turned it into two points to put Tulane in front 30-28. Just over a minute later Marta Galic converted a four-point to put the Wave up eight. Freeman scored Tulane's final five points of the quarter giving the Green Wave a 41-33 lead heading into the locker room. The redshirt senior scored 15 of the Wave's 27 points in the frame shooting 6-of-9 from the floor
Tulane got the first bucket out of the break as Freeman continued to have the hot hand knocking down her third triple of the evening to stretch the lead out to 11. Memphis managed a response to climb within two at 49-47 with three minutes on the clock before Ursin and Freeman combined for five points down the stretch to give the Green Wave a three-point cushion, 54-51, going into the final frame.
Again, Freeman began the final quarter with a long ball to put Tulane up 57-51. The Wave went on to stretch its advantage out to as many as 11 with 5:32 to play. The Tigers did not go away without a fight as the Tulane lead was trimmed to 73-71 with under a minute left. Jones hit the clutch shot of the evening when she drained a step-back three with 13 second on the clock as Tulane went on to seal the victory 76-74.