A difficult, disappointing Tulane women’s regular season came to its inevitable end Saturday afternoon at Devlin Fieldhouse.
As was the case in many of the Green Wave’s games this season, this one, ended in a loss that had its chances for victory.
South Florida, in third place in the American Athletic Conference, held the Green Wave without a point the final three minutes in a 58-49 win.
The loss was the second consecutive and third in four games for Tulane (11-19, 6-12), which was outscored 9-0 down the stretch. The dismal showing saw the Green Wave shoot 28.1% (16 of 57) while getting outrebounded 51-35, including 19-9 in offensive glass.
After the game, second-year coach Ashley Langford, a Tulane Hall of Famer as a player, met with her team at length then held a meeting with her staff. She did not address the media.
It was another one that got away, as South Florida, playing without its best player — guard Edyn Battle — struggled just as much as did Tulane. Battle missed the game with a thumb injury.
The victory by the Bulls (20-11, 13-5) can be attributed almost wholly to their second-half bludgeoning of the Wave on the boards by — 32-15, including 15-3 in offensive rebounds.
“I had some words for them at halftime,” said South Florida first-year coach Michele Woods-Baxter after the Bulls won for the 14th consecutive time at Tulane and the 26th time in 27 meetings overall. “First, I told them we could not play any worse. Secondly, I told them what the rebounding was like, and that we missed shots around the basket.”
One of the players Woods-Baxter lit into was 6-foot-2 center L’or Mputu. Mputu had a game-high 14 rebounds, with seven offensive, to go with 10 points. Power forward Carla Brito had 12 rebounds — four offensive — and 10 points. Guard Katie Davidson led with 21 points.
Tulane was led by freshman guard Mecailin Marshall with 21 points, although she too struggled, shooting 5 of 18 from the field.
Next up for Tulane, which finished 10th in the conference, is a the American Conference tournament. The Wave will meet No. 3 seed Temple in the first round at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tulane also has battled injuries, most notably to sophomore starting point guard Kendall Sneed, who has been out with a knee injury since the team’s Feb. 17 win at Memphis. Freshman Shiloh Kimpson has started in Sneed’s absence. Against South Florida, she logged 37:29.
Tulane led 46-41 after a back-door layup by Marshall at the 8:10 mark of the fourth quarter. USF then scored the next eight points, with offensive rebounds fueling the run.
Tulane’s Amira Mabry sank a 3-pointer that tied the score at 49-49 with three minutes left. But that was the last time the Wave scored.
“I just attribute (the win) to our grit, our two leading rebounders and that we stopped missing shots under the basket,” Woods-Baxter said.
The Green Weave led 23-22 at halftime in a first half in which there were 10 lead changes and 10 ties. South Florida led 15-14 at 6:34 of the second quarter. However, Mays grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast to score in traffic, putting Tulane in front.
South Florida went ahead 20-19 on a 3-pointer by guard Raina Tomasicka with 1;52 left. Freshman guard Macailin Marshall then made a putback after two offensive rebounds to give the Wave the lead.
Brown sank a baseline jumper with 32.1 seconds left for a 23-20 margin. However, Bulls forward L’or Moufu sank a jumper off glass from the low post as the half-time buzzer sounded.
Both teams struggled shooting in the half. South Florida made nine of 27 shots, but hit three of 10 3-point tries. Tulane scored 12 points off turnovers but stil shot 7-of-27. The Wave made eight of 10 free throws, though, and the Bulls made their lone foul-shot attempt.