Dec. 5, 2007

Box Score

KINGSTON, R.I. - Junior Sierra Cooper (Blairs, Va.) netted a career-high 17 points as the Rhode Island women's basketball fell to Tulane, 74-65, Wednesday night at the Ryan Center. Senior Safi Mojidi (Silver Spring, Md.) also tallied 17 for the Rams while adding four assists and three steals and tying her career high with eight rebounds. The loss drops the Rams to 4-5 on the season while the Tulane improves to 7-2 overall.

Nikki Luckhurst opened the game with a three-point field goal for the Green Wave but Rhody responded with a 15-3 run to take a nine point lead (15-6) with 12:16 left on the clock. URI pushed its lead to as many as 10 (24-14) with just over five minutes to go but Tulane battled back with a 16-7 run to get within one before Mojidi connected on two free throws with :17 left in the half to send the Rams into the break with a 33-30 lead.

The two teams traded baskets through the beginning of the second half and the Green Wave took a one-point lead twice, but junior Amanda McGrew (Santa Monica, Calif.) sank back-to-back baskets and classmate Tanja Licina (Belgrade, Serbia) nailed a jumper to give the Rams an eight point advantage (46-38) with 15:20 remaining.

Tulane used another 16-7 run to lead by one (54-53) before McGrew buried her third three of the night to put URI up by two with 8:16 left in the game. That was as close as the Rams would get though, as the Green Wave went on to outscore URI, 20-9, through the remainder of the game en route to the 74-65 victory.

For the game, Rhody shot a season-high 47.4-percent from the field (27-57) while Tulane held a 38-30 advantage on the boards.

McGrew rounded out the double-figure scoring for URI with 13 points while redshirt junior Crystal Bellinger (New York, N.Y.) recorded a game-high five steals and dished out as many assists.

The Rams are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 8, when they travel to Boston College for a 2:00 p.m. game against the Eagles.