Sunday, March 05, 2000UC women lose C-USA quarterfinal
Star Slaise goes cold in Tulane victory
BY J.J. HYSELL
Special to the EnquirerLOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cincinnati lived its worst nightmare in last night's Conference USA quarterfinal against Tulane: forward Madinah Slaise had an off night.
Slaise, who has averaged 29 points over the last six games, went 4-for-16 as the Bearcats lost 91-78 to the Green Wave at Freedom Hall.
No. 7-seeded UC (17-12, 10-8) shot 41 percent from the field, compared to 59 percent for No.2-seed Tulane (24-4, 13-4). Slaise finished with 16 points and four turnovers.
Senior Grace Daley, C-USA's all-time leading scorer, led the Greeen Wave with 29 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Center Janell Burse, who is hitting 72 percent of her shots over the past six games, added 27 points and 10 rebounds.
“We felt it was going to be a physical game, and that the toughest team would survive,” Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said. “Although we gave away a lot of points, we felt like our defense in the second half was intense and we were very aggressive.”
Center Candice Holley led the Bearcats with 14 points. Guard Tish Perry had 11 points and eight assists.
With 12:06 left in the first half and Tulane holding a 15-13 lead, UC called timeout. The Bearcats returned to the court with one plan in mind: drop the ball to Portia Flournoy.
Flournoy scored six straight points to put the Bearcats ahead 19-15 at the 8:47 mark. Tulane led 26-21 with four minutes until halftime, but UC rallied again behind six points from Nikki Groeber and a three-pointer from Kristen Sharp to take a 36-31 halftime lead.
With 10 minutes left in the game, Tulane extended its lead to 58-48 behind six straight points from Daley.
But UC made one last run as Slaise got hot after a timeout midway through the second half. The senior made a layup, then two three pointers to cut the deficit to 68-58 with 5:50 left.
But the Lady Bearcats' defense could not keep up as the Green Wave pulled away for its sixth win of the last seven.
Tulane made 26 of 32 free throws but was outrebounded 37-32.
“We go to the line a lot because we're a physical team,” Stockton said. “You can't win championships or tournament games if can't make those free throws.”
In today's semifinals, the Green Wave play No.11 seed UNC-Charlotte and No.8-seed UAB plays No.4 seed Southern Mississippi.
UC (78) — Slaise 4-16 6-8 16, Wilder 2-7 0-0 6, Holley 7-9 0-2 14, Roberson 1-8 0-0 2, Perry 4-9 1-2 11, Flournoy 3-6 0-0 6, Sharp 3-5 2-2 10, Merriweather 0-1 0-2 0, Groeber 3-5 7-8 13. Totals 27-66, 16-24 78.
Tulane (91) — Roberson 2-3 9-10, 13, Turnbull 0-3, 0-0 0, Burse 11-13 5-10 27, Daley 8-19 12-12 29, Goree 5-8 0-0 13, Scanlon 3-3 0-0 7, Themann 1-3 0-0 2, Norris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-52 26-32 91.
Halftime — UC 36, Tulane 31. 3-pointers — UC 8 (Slaise 2, Wilder 2, Perry 2, Sharp 2), Tulane 5 (Daley, Goree 3, Scanlon). Rebounds — UC 37 (Wilder 7), Tulane 32 (Burse 10). Assists — UC 20 (Perry 8), Tulane 20 (Turnbull 7).
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