The SMU women’s basketball team improved to 5-3 in Conference USA after defeating defending conference champions Tulane in an 81-69 victory Saturday night at Moody Coliseum.
Senior post Janielle Dodds recorded her 35th career double-double, scoring a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. SMU sophomore forward Delisha Wills also hit double figures with 13 points, followed by senior forward Sharee Shepherd adding 12 and senior guard Katy Cobb finishing the night with 11.
Dodds currently has 1,687 career points, and needs 99 points to pass Karlin Kennedy for most career points scored while at SMU.
Tulane’s Chassity Brown led the Green Wave with a team and career-high 23 points, while Ashley Langford finished the night with 16.
The Green Wave gained a 14-12 lead about eight minutes in, but SMU went on an 11-2 run to dominate the boards.
Tulane came within four points of the Mustangs near the end of the first half, but a bucket by SMU put them up to take the final lead at the half.
Holding onto its lead through the first half, SMU went into the locker room at halftime up 33-28 over the Green Wave. Out-shooting Tulane 45.8 percent to 48.1 percent in field goals, SMU hit six of its seven shots from the line to give them the advantage.
Coming out in the second half, Tulane managed to steal SMU’s lead, getting up by five points with 8:44 left in the game. Not wanting to blow another lead as they had done in previous games, SMU rallied to gain a 12-point advantage with 39 seconds left to seal the win.
The Mustangs finished the game averaging 48.1 percent in field goals, 20 percent in threes and 90.9 percent from the line.
Tulane ended the game shooting 45.3 percent in field goals, 36.8 percent in threes and 70 percent from the line.
The Mustangs’ bench added 25 points to the score, with Cobb leading, followed by seven points from guard LaShandra Hill.
SMU improved to 25-6 overall, and currently stands at No. 5 in the conference, sharing a 5-3 C-USA record with Tulsa.
The Mustangs take to the road this weekend with a pair of away games, beginning on Thursday night against Rice at Houston Baptist University, followed by a Saturday afternoon match-up against the University of Houston.
