Tulane’s Jerkalia Jordan, playing on an injured ankle, scored 22 of her team’s 47 points. But it wasn’t enough in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Tulane falls to South Florida for the 18th consecutive time, 51-47.
Here’s head coach Lisa Stockton after the game.
Here’s the game story.
FORT WORTH, Texas – The Tulane University women’s basketball team fell to No. 18 South Florida, 51-47, in the semifinals of the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship Wednesday.
Freshman JerKaila Jordan led the Green Wave with 22 points, seven rebounds and four steals. She shot 8-18 from the floor and 3-6 from three. Senior Krystal Freeman logged the 22nd double-double of her career with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Anijah Grant had another great day off the bench with six rebounds.
“I am really proud of our players and how they came out and really fought hard,” Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. “We started so slow offensively and we fought through it. Our defense was tremendous. I thought we did some really, really good things defensively. Both teams shot so poorly. For us to get to the finals in this league, you are going to have to have a better offensive performance. In that last quarter, we just did not score enough. They made some plays down the stretch, but it was a really hard-fought game for us.”
Tulane (17-8) logged 36 rebounds, eight steals and seven assists on the night, while USF (17-3) registered 49 boards, 12 assists and seven steals. The Green Wave scored 20 points off 18 turnovers from the Bulls. The Olive and Blue held South Florida to 27.9 (17-61) percent shooting from the field and 30.0 (9-30) from three.
Tulane struggled offensively in the first quarter, but the Green Wave’s defense held strong. South Florida held a 10-4 lead headed into the second quarter.
The Green Wave opened the second period a 7-3 run to cut USF’s lead to 13-11 with 6:30 left in the first half. Sophomore Anijah Grant sparked the run with two free throws then she hit Freeman for a three at the top of the key. Jordan capped off the run with a fastbreak layup over two defenders.
The Bulls led 15-11 after the five-minute media timeout of the second quarter then Jordan grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for the layup. On the next possession, Tulane got a defensive stopped and senior Sierra Cheatham hit a shot to tie the game at 15. Jordan then scored the next eight points of the game, including two threes, to put the Green Wave up 23-15. The second 3-pointer capped off a 12-0 Tulane run. The Olive and Blue led 23-17 at hafltime.
Tulane forced 12 South Florida turnovers in the first half and scored 14 points off the change of possession. The Green Wave held USF to 21.9 shooting from the floor and 18.8 from three in the opening 20 minutes. In the first half, Jordan led all scorers with 12 points, while Grant and Freeman led Tulane on the glass with four rebounds, apiece.
After two threes from USF to cut Tulane’s lead to 25-23 early in the third, the Green Wave scored eight straight behind a three from Freeman and a fastbreak layup from Jordan. Tulane extended its lead to 33-23 with 4:53 left in the third quarter. USF closed the third on a 5-0 run to make it 33-28 headed into the fourth.
The Bulls tied the game at 38 after hitting a three with 8:02 left in the game. USF took a 40-38 lead, but Tulane responded with a Clark free throw and a Freeman layup to go up 41-40 with 2:52 remaining. The Bulls hit a three to take a 43-41 advantage with 1:50 left in the game. Jordan hit a free throw the next time down the floor for Tulane to cut it to 43-42. South Florida then hit four straight free throws to extend its lead to 47-45.
Freeman knocked down a three with 14 seconds left to cut the score to 47-45. The Bulls knocked down two more free throws to go up 49-45 on the next possession. Jordan hit a layup on the next Tulane possession and the Bulls made two free throws to set the final score at 51-47.
Bethy Mununga led the Bulls with 18 rebounds, Sydni Harvey, Elisa Pinzan and Maria Alvarez all scored 12 for South Florida. The Bulls logged 20 offensive rebounds on the night. The Green Wave shot 27.8 (15-54) percent from the field and 26.1 (6-23) percent from three.