March 3, 2006

No. 6 Tulane defeated No. 11 UCF, 69-52, on Thursday to move into the quarterfinals of the 2006 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale at Moody Coliseum. The win for the Green Wave is the first in a C-USA Championship since 2002 and sets up a match-up with championship-host SMU on Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT.

Forward Jennifer Sands, a native of Dallas, scored a game-high 17 points. Freshman Megan Valicevic also reached double figures for Tulane as the duo combined to go 13-for-19 from the field. Valicevic made each of her three-point attempts.

"I don't know if I have ever coached as tight as a team as this one," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockston said. "It definitely showed on the court tonight. There are two things that put this team where it is today: the quality of our players and the circumstances throughout the season."

Tulane trailed for much of the first half, but a 13-4 spurt over the final 4:41 allowed the Green Wave to take a 30-22 advantage into the locker room. The Green Wave shot 46.4 percent from the field and forced 10 Golden Knight turnovers in the opening half.

In the second half, Tulane continued to shoot the ball well finishing with a 44.3 percent effort from the floor. The Green Wave built their lead to as many as 18 points after the break as the defense held the Golden Knights to just 38 percent shooting.

Tulane also outrebounded UCF, 37-31, with forward Alendra Brown grabbing a game-high eight boards. UCF had three player reach double figures led by Francine Houston with 15 points. Keunta Miles and Shelby Weber added 10 points each.

This is the first time since the 2001 Championship that all the higher seeds won their first-round games.