After a rough patch, the Tulane University Green Wave women’s basketball appears to be bouncing back at the right time. The Green Wave won their last two matches after going 2-5 in their previous seven games, asserting themselves back into the competitive American Conference race.
The lapse served as a wake-up call for the team. After last Saturday’s loss to the University of North Texas, head coach Ashley Langford emphasized the need for the team to stay consistent moving forward.
“Our biggest thing this season that I’ve continued saying is we’re just inconsistent,” Langford said. “We show the flashes of a really good team that can win a lot of games and then we have lapses where we don’t look so great.”
Multiple individual performances have been key in the resurgence. Two players in particular have shone recently. Following in the footsteps of her fellow first-year teammate Mecailin Marshall, a first-year guard from Texas, Shiloh Kimpson received American Conference Freshman of the Week honors for the week of Jan. 12-18, a testament to her growing ability to make an impact on both ends of the floor. She averaged 10.5 points per game and shot 53.3% from the field and had seven assists during the week.
Kanija Daniel, a junior from Carrollton, Georgia, earned an honorable mention nod for her play during the week. Her leadership and scoring ability were crucial to their two wins, as she led the team with 14.5 points per game, posting a 19-point, seven-rebound performance in their big win at Temple.
If the Green Wave wants to continue competing for a higher seed in the conference, they will need these two players to keep showing up big.
Tulane currently sits at No.7 in the American Conference standings. This Saturday, they will be in Houston, Texas, to face the No. 1-seeded Rice University at 2 p.m. CST, a team with a 15-3 total record, including an impressive 5-0 conference record.
It would be a massive win for Tulane, and the consistency that coach Langford has continuously preached will be vital to keep this win streak going.