Tigers Women's Basketball Falls To Tulane In AAC Tournament

Saturday, March 5

Uncasville, Conn.

11 am CT

University of Memphis

18-12

Tulane

21-10

Tulane

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Tigers Women's Basketball Falls To Tulane In AAC Tournament

Mar 05, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Four Tigers score in double figures in 70-64 setback.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – In a game of back-and-forth runs, the foe got the last one Saturday.

The University of Memphis women's basketball team fought a valiant fight, but dropped a 70-64 decision to Tulane in the quarterfinal round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

With the loss, the Tigers fell to 18-12 on the season. Though its conference tournament is finished, Memphis now awaits to hear when and where it will play in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The WNIT pairings will be announce the night of Mar. 14 (Monday) after the NCAA Tournament field is announced earlier that evening.

Tulane improves to 21-10 overall and advances to the American Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals to face No. 1 Connecticut or East Carolina Sunday. Game time is 3:30 p.m. (CT).

Ariel Hearn led four Tigers in double figures with 17 points. She also had four assists and four steals. Brianna Wright, Loysha Morris and Mooriah Rowser each added 10 points. Wright grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds to post her 13^th career double-double. Asianna Fuqua-Bey scored six points and had eight boards and three assists.

For Hearn, she now has 1,928 career points and needs 72 to reach the 2,000-point milestone. Fuqua-Bey now has 968 points and 810 rebounds for her career.

Kolby Morgan led Tulane with a game-high 23 points. She also had seven boards and four assists. Tierra Jones was the Green Wave's only other double-figure scorer with 10 points. Leslie Vorpahl dished out a game-high eight assists.

With 6:40 left in the contest, Tulane held a 59-52 advantage, but like they've done all season long, the Tigers fought back.

A Hearn layup at the 6:09 mark cut the Green Wave lead to 59-54, and after a Tulane miss, a Wright basket sliced the lead to 59-56 with 5:22 left. The Tigers defense then forced a Tulane turnover that resulted in another Hearn layup to pull Memphis to within one at 59-58 with 4:47 on the clock.

A Morgan three-point play with 4:02 left extended the Green Wave lead to 62-58 and halted the Tigers' momentum, but only for a few seconds. Hearn's two free throws with 2:49 remaining cut the Tulane advantage to 62-60. Then, on Tulane's next possession, Hearn stole the ball and released an outlet pass to Brea Elmore for a game-tying layup with 1:31 on the clock.

But, in a game of back-and-forth, Tulane got the last run, outscoring Memphis 8-2 in the final minute to seal the 70-64 win. The Green Wave secured the victory at the foul line in the game's last minute, going 8-of-8 at the charity stripe. All the Tigers' answers came up short in the last minute, as Memphis shot 1-of-6 from the floor in that span of time.

The last six minutes of the game carried on the theme of the entire contest, with each team countering each other's spurts.

Memphis held an early 9-6 lead, but Tulane closed the final five minutes of the first period with a 14-3 run to take a 20-12 advantage into the second period. The Green Wave grabbed the lead via the three-point shot, as Meredith Schulte, Morgan and Vorpahl each hit treys in the spurt.

In the second period, the tide turned the Tigers' way. Memphis began the second period with a 10-2 spurt to knot the contest at 22-all. Hearn netted her first points (four) in the run. After the contest was tied at 24-all, the Tigers put together another small run – this time, 8-2 – to take a 32-26 advantage with 2:19 left. Four different Tigers scored in the spurt. Memphis outscored Tulane 20-10 in the second quarter and took a 32-30 lead into halftime.

After the break, the teams played nip-and-tuck ball the entire third quarter. The period had five lead changes and two ties. Memphis held the quarter's largest lead at 42-34, but it came with nearly seven minutes left in the period. Tulane led 51-49 at the end of three quarters.

Early in the final quarter, the Green Wave extended their lead to 57-50, setting up the back-and-forth finish down the stretch.

The Tigers shot 35.7 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the arc and 75 percent from the free throw line (9-of-12). Tulane hit 45.8 percent from the floor, including 50 percent in the second half. The Green Wave shot 92.3 percent from the charity stripe (12-of-13), including 8-of-8 in the game's final 1:03.