Huskies Drop Road Opener 63-51 at Tulane

Sunday, November 18

New Orleans, LA

2:00 PM

University of Washington

2-1

Tulane

3-0

Washington

Tulane

November 18, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS --- Amber Melgoza scored a team-high 13 points and Hailey Van Dyke added 10, but turnovers and poor shooting doomed Washington in an 63-51 loss at Tulane on Sunday afternoon.

The loss was the first of the season for the Huskies, who drop to 2-1 on the year while Tulane remains perfect at 3-0.

Melgoza finished a rebound shy of her second-straight double-double, scoring 13 points and adding nine boards. Despite a rough shooting night, the junior reached double-figures for the 16th-straight game. Van Dyke added 10 points and a team-high three steals for the Huskies.

However, Washington turned the ball over 23 times including 16 unforced turnovers. The Huskies also shot just 32.7 percent in the game and connected on just 3-of-19 from three-point range, hitting 15.8 percent from long range—their lowest percentage of the year.

Washington got off to a slow start in the game as Tulane opened the game with a quick 5-0 run. Khayla Rooks got the Huskies on the board at the 8:16 mark, hitting a deep three, but the team would struggle after that, committing six turnovers despite shooting 50 percent from the field. The Green Wave would break open the close game with a quick 6-2 run to go up 17-9 at the 1:25 mark as the Huskies would get a free throw followed by a three by Tulane on back-to-back possessions.

The Huskies would snap a nearly four-minute stretch without a field goal as Rees hit an easy layup and Moser got a steal and two free throws to cut the deficit to four with 35 seconds left. But Tulane got a bucket with 16 seconds left to close out the quarter with a 19-13 lead.

The Green Wave opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to take its largest lead of the game at 22-13. The Huskies answered back with a layup by Mai-Loni Henson on the next possession, but neither team would score again until Melgoza made one of two from the free throw line at the 5:46 mark to cut the lead to six. Tulane got its first field goal in over four minutes with an easy backdoor layup to go back up 24-16 with 4:31. Washington answered back with a long three-pointer by Moser which keyed a 7-1 run to close within two at 25-23 with 2:55 left. Missy Peterson capped the run with a steal and a layup as the Husky defense picked up the pressure.

But after missing eight-straight field goals, the shots started falling for the Green Wave, who hit three-straight to key an 8-2 run over a 1:30 stretch and go back up eight at 33-25 with 44 seconds left. Washington didn't go quietly, though, as Haley Van Dyke closed the gap nearly single-handedly. Van Dyke got an easy bucket on an in-bound lob, then stole the ball on the other end and made an easy layup with eight seconds left as the Huskies headed to the half down just four at 33-29.

The teams exchanged buckets early in the quarter with both teams shooting well through the first five minutes. Both teams hit four of six from the field up through the media timeout with the Green Wave hitting one extra three-pointer than the Huskies, who trailed 42-37 at the break. Coming out of the timeout, Tulane drained another long three to stretch the lead back to eight at 45-37 with 3:47 left in the quarter. Just one more point was scored the rest of the quarter as Henson would convert one of two free throws with just over a minute left and the Huskies headed to the fourth down seven at 45-38.

The fourth quarter started with each team turning the ball over on their first possessions before Tulane hit a bucket at the 8:28 mark to put the Green Wave up nine at 47-38. Melgoza got the Huskies first. The teams traded buckets before Van Dkye and Rooks got layups on cut the lead to four at 49-45 with 5:30 left. But Tulane again answered with a bucket of its own to stretch the lead back up to six with 4:51 left in the game. The Green Wave put the game away with a three-pointer coming out of the media timeout to stretch it back to a nine-point advantage at 54-45 with 4:35 left. Rooks would bring the Huskies back within six on a three-pointer with 3:23 left, but that was the closest UW could get as Tulane made free throws down the stretch to account for the final 63-51 advantage.

The Huskies stay on the road this week, heading to Ft. Myers, Florida for the Gulf Coast Showcase Friday through Sunday at Hertz Arena. Washington opens the tournament against Duke University at 10:30 am on Friday.