Indira Kaljo, who scored a game high 22 points, hit three treys over that run.
"We knew playing against Tulane was going to be a non-flowing game. There were things going into the game we were hoping to do," head coach Royce Chadwick said after the game. "Number one - do not turn it over because they are prolific at getting steals and turning them into transition baskets."
Tynikki Crook was double-teamed by Tulane's Brittany Lindsey and Brett Benzio, yet still managed to score 13 points and grab seven rebounds in the loss to the Green Wave. photo by Greg Perry/HI staff
"They were able to turn our turnovers into 29 points. I think they had 11 points off of our turnovers at half. We just turned it over too many times. Secondly, we knew we had to get on the offensive boards. They are very good defensive team and they hold people to under 40 percent for the year shooting the basketball."
It was a defensive battle throughout the contest, especially early in the contest. Neither team found its way onto the scoreboard until over two minutes in when a jumper by Alyssa Hammond put the Herd on the board.
With Marshall up 4-0 three minutes in, the Green Wave reeled off the next 11 points to go up by seven, the largest lead either team would enjoy in the first half. Five straight points by Tynikki Crook cut the deficit to two points, 11-9, with 12:50 left in the half.
Marshall's Keona Brooks applied pressure to Tulane's Chassity Brown in the second half. photo by Greg Perry/HI staff
A Hammond lay-up with 9:30 remaining cut the Tulane lead to a point, 14-13, and just over a minute later, she chipped in two free throws to give the lead back to the Herd. Over the next four minutes, the lead would swap six times before a few late buckets gave Tulane a 29-25 lead at the half.
Marshall looked like it was headed in the right direction early in the second half, scoring the first six points en route to a 31-29 lead. The defense did its job, holding the Green Wave scoreless over the first five minutes of the stanza, but after a technical foul was assessed on the Herd 5:10 into the half, Ashley Langford hit both free throws to begin what would turn into the game-changing 16-2 run.
Following a trey by Indira Kaljo, Langford hit both free throws following another technical foul called on the Herd. Seven more points, including two three-pointers, by Kaljo put Tulane up 43-31 with 11 minutes left in the game.
The lead shrunk to as few as seven points with 4:21 remaining after Chantelle Handy hit two shots from the charity stripe. It looked like the Herd was poised for a run after forcing a missed Tulane shot on the other end of the floor, but an offensive foul by the Herd ended the run as Tulane hit its late shots to take a 58-45 win.
Crook was the top scorer for Marshall, tallying 13 points. Hammond finished with 12 while Handy scored eight points while grabbing a team high eight boards. Kaljo of Tulane led all scorers with 22. She was 8-of-12 from the floor, including 5-8 beyond-the-arc.
Tulane entered the game as the top defensive team in C-USA games and kept that status, holding the Herd to 45 points on .375 shooting. While the turnover numbers were similar, with Marshall committing 22 and Tulane having 21, the Green Wave turned those into 29 points while Marshall scored 16 off of the takeaways.
Another advantage for Tulane was from three-point range. The Green Wave were 5-13 on three-point tried while Marshall was 0-5, its second game this year failing to hit a trey.
The Herd will look to half its recent three-game slide on the road Sunday. Marshall will face UTEP at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso. MU will return home next weekend to face UCF on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Southern Miss at 3:30 p.m. on February 15th in the Jam the Cam game.