TULSA, Okla. - One day ago, the Green Wave needed a last-second basket and a defensive stand to hold off a pesky opponent. On Wednesday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center, there was no need for such dramatics as top-seeded Tulane defeated No. 5 seed East Carolina, 73-64, in the semifinals of the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Championship.

Tulane scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back as the Green Wave improved to 25-6 and advances to the C-USA Championship game for the first time since 2002. East Carolina, meanwhile, fell to 22-10.

The Wave will take on the winner of the Houston/UAB game on Friday, March 12, and looks to become the first team to win the regular-season and tournament titles since Tulsa in 2006. That game is slated to tipoff at 12:30 p.m. and will be televised live on CBS College Sports Network.

"I'm so proud of how our team came out today," Tulane head women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton said. "I think we came out with a lot of energy and a lot of intensity. We wanted to do a better job of rebounding. In the first half, I think we did an excellent job and we always share the ball. I think that's why we shot the ball well - 51 percent. We find the best shots we can get instead of settling for shots that weren't so good. Overall, I think it was an excellent performance for us."

Junior forward Danielle Nunn led a balanced Tulane offense with 19 points while fellow junior forward Tiffany Aidoo had 16, junior point guard Roshaunda Barnes finished with 14 and sophomore center Brett Benzio had tallied 10. Aidoo paced the Green Wave on the boards with seven rebounds, freshman guard Olivia Grayson posted a game-high five assists and the quartet of Nunn, Aidoo, Barnes and senior guard Chassity Brown had a pair of steals each.

During Tulane's regular-season meeting with the Pirates, the Green Wave shot a season-worst 23.7 percent from the field. On Wednesday, Tulane shot 51.1 percent from the field (24-of-47), including a 53.6 clip in the first half (15-of-28) which helped Tulane build a 41-27 halftime advantage.

The Green Wave led by as many as 20 when Aidoo hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half and make it 47-27 1:24 into the stanza. The lead never got below double digits until the final second of the contest when the Pirates' Ashley Clarke converted a layup to account for the final score.

After going ahead 9-0, Tulane pushed the lead to double digits at 18-8 with 11:31 to go before halftime. East Carolina cut the deficit to three courtesy of a 12-5 run over the next 5:28. From there, C-USA Coach of the Year Lisa Stockton called a timeout to regroup her team and the Green Wave responded with an 8-0 run and the route was on.

"It felt like we needed to make some changes defensively," Stockton said. "I thought we made some adjustments there. It was more of a refocus. I don't think you play a team of the quality of East Carolina and you go out there thinking you're going to run away with that game in the beginning. So, we didn't have that expectation. Our team regrouped and came back. Our goal this game was to create the tempo. We had to get up and down the floor and have them run with us, and that's what we did."

The lead hovered around 10 points for most of the remaining half and senior guard Indira Kaljo hit a 3-pointer with five seconds before halftime to put Tulane on top at the break, 41-27. Aidoo fourth trey of the day put the Green Wave on top by 20 early in the second half and the advantaged hovered between 16-18 points for the next 12:27. The East Carolina defense held Tulane without a field goal over the final six-plus minutes and the Pirates scored 14 of the game's final 18 points, but the game was never in doubt after the midway point of the first half.

No East Carolina player tallied a double-digit scoring total but all 12 active players scored at least two points, including nine-point performances by Allison Spivey and Caitlin Thys. Kim Gay led the Pirates with a game-high eight rebounds, Celeste Stewart tallied a team-best four assists and Spivey had four of ECU's 13 steals.