March 17, 2011
Final Stats
While Southern scored the first basket of the night on a layup by Hannah Kador 15 seconds into the contest, Tulane scored the next 13 points and never looked back, in route to a 61-31 blowout win over the Southern Jaguars in the first round of the Women's NIT.
Southern was just 3-for-35 during the first 20 minutes of play (.086) and faired only slightly better after halftime when the Lady Jags connected on 25.0 percent of its shots (9-of-36). Eleven first-half turnovers by Southern led to an equal number of Tulane points in the first half and the Green Wave tallied six steals in each stanza as the home team went into the locker room at the break on top, 29-9.
The second half was more of the same and Tulane's lead swelled to 31 at 44-13 with 13:54 left to play. Southern made it a 25-point game at 50-25 just over seven minutes later, but the Green Wave scored 11 of the game's final 17 points to account for the final score.
The Wave used its press to tally 12 steals while limiting the Lady Jaguars to a 16.9 field goal percentage (12-of-71). With the win, Tulane improves to 23-10 on the year and advances to take on Oral Roberts in the second round of the WNIT on Monday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla. Southern, meanwhile, concludes its 2010-11 season at 20-12.
Hannah Kador led Southern with seven points while Freda Allen paced the Jaguars with a game-high 14 points while adding a trio of assists. Allen shared team-high steals honors with Adrian Sanders with two apiece.
All 10 Tulane players to see time against Southern scored and senior forward Tiffany Aidoo joined Grayson on the double-digit point club with 11. Grayson also paced Tulane with eight rebounds and four assists while chipping in with three steals. Roshaunda Barnes led the Wave with five thefts, and junior center Brett Benzio came off the bench to contribute nine points, seven boards and a game-high five blocks.
"Without a true point guard, we just don't have that leadership - that calming factor. We seemed to have a lot of individuals out there playing without any cohesiveness. We knew that they were going to be pressuring us. We knew exactly what we were going to be running. We just couldn't put the ball in the hole," said Sandy Pugh, Southern's head coach.
"If you're going to shoot eight percent, you're not going to beat anybody. I thought we put too much pressure on ourselves."
