Tulsa Struggles In the Second Half, Falls to Tulane

Tulsa held a seven-point halftime lead, but a big second half from the Green Wave lifted them to a 66-51 win Sunday, handing the Golden Hurricane its second conference loss of the season.

The Golden Hurricane went into halftime with a 31-25 lead, thanks to outscoring Tulane 16-6 in the paint, and a 14-point outburst from junior guard Taleya Mayberry. However, Tulane scored the first six points of the half to tie the game less than three minutes into the half.

The squads traded buckets for the next five minutes, until Tulsa rattled off three consecutive scores to retake the lead 43-38 with 11:16 left to play.

Tulsa's lead dwindled over the next three minutes, and a Jamie Kaplan jumper with 8:04 left on the clock gave Tulane a 48-47 advantage. That shot was the first of 13 unanswered points from the Green Wave to take a 14-point lead with less than two minutes to play, essentially putting the game out of reach.

Mayberry finished with a game-high 22 points, with Loren McDaniel contributing eight points and 15 rebounds. However, one other player scored more than five points for TU, with Hooker scoring eight in her 28 minutes of play.

Tulsa will take four days off, before taking on the UAB Blazers at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Reynolds Center.