Four days after scoring the game winner to lift SMU to a one-point win against Temple, Ariana Whitfield scored a career-high 24 points and led SMU to victory at Tulane.

Down one with 12 seconds remaining against Temple, Whitfield, a team captain, took the handoff after inbounding the ball. The Houston native drove with a right-hand turn down the left side of the lane and hit the layup to put the Mustangs in front, 53-52. It was just her second field goal of the game, but it ensured the victory for a team that has five losses by a combined six points.

The youthful Mustangs then went to New Orleans to face Tulane as the parade season rolled on, nine days before the Mardi Gras celebration on Fat Tuesday. SMU began the season tied with two other programs for the youngest roster in the country, and seven of the 12 players on the squad are freshmen.

Leading the team in assists, the point guard had scored 10 or more points just five times this season, but had 11 points at halftime as SMU led Tulane, 32-26. Whitfield knew what it felt like to eclipse 20 points, scoring a career-high 22 points in the conference tournament as a freshman.

With Tulane threatening to come back in the second half, Whitfield continued to make shots. She made three of SMU's six field goals in the third quarter, and scored 13 points in the second half, finishing with 24. Whitfield made 6-of-8 behind the arc and was 8-of-12 from the field with a pair of free throws. The sophomore's efforts, along with a 14-point, 12-rebound performance by fellow sophomore Johnasia Cash, guided SMU to a 64-60 win.

As the SMU women's basketball program prepares to celebrate one of the most prolific players in program history, its underclassmen are showing that the future is bright. Alicia Froling is the career record holder at SMU in rebounds, blocks and double-doubles, and needs just 11 points to climb into the top three in scoring. She is the only player in program history to score 1,000 points with 1,000 rebounds.

Freshman Kayla White is leading the team in scoring, an accomplishment Froling did twice in three previous seasons. When Froling led the Mustangs in scoring during the 2014-15 season, she was the first freshman to lead the team since Hall of Famer Janielle Dodds in 2005.

While Froling is closing the book on an amazing career, SMU's crop of underclassmen is proving there is still star power on the roster.