March 6, 2008

Final Stats

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ORLANDO, Fla. - Casey Baker flirted with a triple double as the Marshall women's basketball team topped Tulane, 65-58, in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament at the UCF Arena.

Baker led Marshall with 18 points while tallying eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals. Freshman Tynikki Crook recorded her third double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The Thundering Herd (16-15) held a 32-14 lead at the half and led by as many as 23 points early in the second half before Tulane (16-14) cut the lead to five with 1:25 left in the game. A 6-of-6 performance from the charity stripe by Meagan Samis over the final 1:21 sealed the game for the Thundering Herd, who will face No. 3 seed UAB on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Marshall's defense was the story early on, opening the game with its best half of the season. The Herd held Tulane to just five field goals and 14 points. It marked the lowest total in a half for a Marshall opponent this season. MU held UAB to 20 points in their contest at Birmingham. The defense picked up right where it left off in its regular season meeting with Tulane. Marshall held the Green Wave to just five field goals in the second half of their first meeting.

Scoring was tough on both ends over the first four minutes of the game as Marshall held just a 4-0 lead. A three by Nikki Luckhurst put Tulane on the board at the 15:42 mark. Kizzy Hart countered with a three of her own to put the Herd up 7-3. Marshall's defense kept the pressure on the Green Wave over the first eight minutes, holding them to 1-of-15 from the field.

Up by five, 13-8, at the 7:44 mark, the Herd embarked on a 19-6 run to end the half that would see it hold a 32-14 lead. Alix Barnette got things started with her first trey of the game at the 7:17 mark. Another one two minutes later put MU up 23-8. Five late points from Casey Baker, along with two buckets by Tynikki Crook, including a buzzer beater at the end of the half, padded the Marshall lead.

Baker led all scorers with ten in the half and continued to rack up another strong stat line with five assists, three steals and three rebounds. Crook finished the half with eight points. MU shot 46.4% in the opening stanza while holding Tulane to a .172 shooting percentage.

The Herd lead reached the 20-point mark thanks to a shot by Tynikki Crook to open the second half. Hart's second trey of the contest pushed the lead to a game-high 23 points.

A lay-up by Baker put the Herd up 45-23 with 12:37 remaining in the contest before Tulane began to cut into the lead. A jumper by Ashley Langford, followed by two threes from Luckhurst cut the lead to 14 points, 45-31. Langford would connect on a three at the 8:53 mark to cut the lead to 11.

A free throw by Kizzy Hart ended almost a four-minute scoring drought before another Tulane field goal cut the lead to ten. With a nine-point lead with just over five minutes left, a steal and lay-up by Hart put the lead back into double digits. Baker accomplished the same feat in Tulane's next trip down the floor to put MU back up by 13, 55-42.

Tulane did not relent, going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to five points with just 1:24 remaining. Luckhurst connected on her fifth three of the game while Langford followed that up with five-straight points. On the ensuing Marshall possession, a foul sent Meagan Samis to the line. Samis proceeded to connect on all six of her late free throw attempts as Marshall would hold off the Green Wave and take the 65-58 win.

Hart and Samis joined Crook and Baker as MU's double-digit scorers. Hart scored 12 points while Samis finished with ten.

The Green Wave was led by a game-high 20 points from Ashley Langford. Nikki Luckhurst, who hit five three-pointers, had 17 points.

Marshall dominated the glass, out-rebounding Tulane by a 43-30 margin. The only flaw for Marshall was turnovers. The Herd turned the ball over 23 times, tied for its second-highest total of the season.

With the win, Marshall guaranteed its fifth-straight non-losing season.

UAB will be the next opponent for the Herd on Friday afternoon. The winner of that game will go on to the semifinals on Saturday.