Down 69-70 in double overtime, head coach Todd Buchanan called a timeout with just 18 seconds left to draw up one last play to give the Cougars a chance to win.
Buchanan previously said he has a lot of options at end-of-game situations, but he would like to have the ball in redshirt senior guard Porsche Landry’s hands.
After Landry drove the lane and missed the contested layup, junior forward Te’onna Campbell was able to snatch the offensive rebound and lay it back up with just four seconds remaining to secure the Cougar’s second consecutive road victory.
After a disappointing loss in their first meeting, Campbell’s layup in the closing seconds lifted the Cougars to a 71-70 double-overtime victory at Tulane on Sunday.
“Coach always tells us to finish the play until the final whistle, and it paid off,” Campbell said.
Campbell produced career highs of 17 points and five assists to go along with her eight rebounds in 48 minutes played.
Junior center Yasmeen Thompson was just shy of a double-double and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to compliment her nine points.
After allowing Tulane to shoot 50 percent (10-20) from the 3-point line two weeks ago, the Cougars wanted to chase them off the line as they allowed the Green Wave to shoot only 23 percent (3-13) from behind the arc.
With the game tied at eight in the opening minutes, Tulane senior guard Tyria Snow’s layup capped a 21-7 run to give her team a 29-15 lead with 6:10 remaining in the first half. They extended their lead to 38-26 at halftime.
Down 37-49 in the middle of the second half, the Cougars put on a clinic as Landry scored 8 points during a 21-2 run to give them a 58-51 lead with 4:30 remaining.
“We finally got into an offensive rhythm and found our groove to execute,” Campbell said.
Tulane would end regulation on a 9-2 run to send the game into the first overtime.
Landry’s 3-pointer and Campbell’s layup wasn’t quite enough to secure the victory, and the game went into the second overtime tied at 65.
The Cougars were able to snap out of their offensive funk as they found their groove offensively and shot more than 41 percent from the field — their first time eclipsing 40 percent in more than seven games.
The win improves the Cougar’s overall record to 11-13 and 5-6 in Conference USA.
The 16-point comeback in the second half tops last Sunday’s 14 against Rice.
The Cougars will travel to El Paso to face the (18-6) Miners 8 p.m. Thursday.
