NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans women's basketball team
made a strong opening statement in a 66-56 win over UALR in both team's
Sun Belt opener on Saturday afternoon.
UNO (6-4, 1-0 SBC) was led by
Jada Frazier's 22 points highlighted by 12 of 12 shooting from the charity stripe.
Le'Della English added 12 points and
Talishia Young had 10.
On the glass, Young paced the Lady Privateers to a 37-24 rebound edge with nine boards.
Brittany Helm had eight assists to help drive the UNO offense.
UALR (6-3, 0-1 SBC) was led by Nikya Hughes who had 20 points. Kim Sitzmann added 14 for the Trojans.
The win represented the first conference opening victory for the Lady Privateers since a victory over South Alabama to open up SBC play in 2002-03.
English got things rolling for UNO in the first half, scoring nine points including a perfect 4 of 4 performance from the charity stripe. Frazier, making her first start of the season added seven first half points as UNO led 28-21 at the break.
A key stretch for the Lady Privateers came when they held the Trojans without a basket for the field during a five minute period before later closing out the half with a 10-0 run, seven of which came from English.
The seven point lead for UNO at the half was a 33 point difference from last year's final encounter between the Lady Privateers and Trojans. In March in a first round SBC tournament game in Little Rock, UNO trailed UALR 36-9 at the break.
In the second half, UALR would pull within one at 35-34 as Hughes would score nine early second half points. Frazier would make two free throws to extend the lead to three. UALR would pull within one again before Frazier responded with a three-point play to extend the lead back to four at 42-38.
UNO extended the lead to eight at 52-44 and pushed the advantage to a 13 point advantage at 58-45 after Frazier made four consecutive free throws following an Asriel Rolfe technical foul and foul. UALR closed the gap to within five at 61-56 before UNO made critical free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
The Lady Privateers will have a week off before returning to the Human Performance Center for a Saturday, Dec. 22 tilt against SBC rival Arkansas State. The game is slated to start at 4:30 p.m.
