22 Georgia turnovers allowed an upset-minded Tulane team to hang around for much of the night, but the Lady Dogs looked to their veterans down the stretch and secured a 64-59 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  The fifth-seeded Lady Dogs struggled to put away the Conference USA champs, but they escaped with their first NCAA Tournament win since 2008.

Ashley Houts (22 points, 6 assists) and Angel Robinson (18 points, 13 rebounds) were instrumental during an 18-2 run that turned a brief 2-point deficit with nine minutes left into a 14-point lead with just under 2 minutes remaining.

After a Meredith Mitchell 3-pointer recaptured the lead for Georgia, Houts scored Georgia’s next seven points with several of those points coming off steals.  Robinson then had a dominating series where she got the offensive rebound following a missed free throw which led to a Houts basket, blocked a shot on the other end, collected the rebound, and then scored on a nice feed from Mitchell back on Georgia’s end.  That was typical for a night on which Robinson asserted her height advantage on both ends.

Unfortunately the play of Robinson and Houts was about the only thing going for Georgia in this first round game.  The other Lady Dogs who saw playing time shot a combined 8-29 from the floor.  Georgia shot out to a 10-0 lead but often committed key turnovers that fueled runs by Tulane and kept Georgia from putting it away.  Even with a late 14-point lead and things seemingly in hand, Georgia again got sloppy with the ball and saw their comfortable lead evaporate to just five, but Tulane was unable to pull any closer.

Georgia advances to face fourth-seeded Oklahoma State who had to rally from an 18-point halftime deficit to avoid the upset in their opener.  Oklahoma State was playing without suspended star guard Andrea Riley, and it took them a while to learn how to play without their leading scorer.  OSU exploded for 51 in the second half, and they’ll have Riley back for Monday night’s game with Georgia.