HAMMOND, La. - The University of New Orleans kept within reach of Southeastern Louisiana before surging past them with a 16-0 run in the second half to take a 73-69 win on Wednesday night.
UNO (8-5) was led by Le'Della English's 19 points. Three other players scored in double-figures for UNO including Brittany Helm with 16, Jada Frazier with 12 and Ty Felder with 10. On the glass, UNO was led by Candice McGee, who grabbed six rebounds on the night.
SLU (6-6) was led by Kristy Carlin with 15 and Brooke Necaise with 10. The Lady Lions shot 49 percent for the game on
The Lady Privateers got off to a quick start, scoring the first four points of the game with a Young free throw followed by an English three-pointer. SLU responded with a 7-0 run before English ended the run with another three-pointer to tie the game at 7-7.
SLU grew their lead to five at 14-9 and again at 16-11, but the Lady Privateers never lost sight of their foes, eventually taking their first lead since the initial 4-0 run when Ty Felder made a wide-open lay-up with 7:54 left in the opening half to put UNO up 20-19. The Lady Lions would take the lead back once more before a Felder jumper ignited a 6-0 run giving UNO their largest lead to that point at 28-23.
Carlin of SLU would make back to back jumpers to start a 13-2 half-ending run to send the Lady Lions into the half with a 36-30 advantage on the scoreboard. At the end of the first half, SLU controlled the rebounds by a 23-12 advantage in large part due to UNO shooting 12 of 34 in the opening half compared to a 13 of 23 from the field for the home team.
Following a jumper by Bethany Sinclair to open the second half, UNO went on a 9-2 run to pull within one at 41-40. Helm was the catalyst scoring six points during the stretch. SLU pushed the lead out to seven at 53-46 with 11:18 left in the ballgame.
UNO found their shot and forced four SLU turnovers in the process to go on a 16-0 run to take a 62-53 lead. It was just over five minutes of scoreless basketball for the Lady Lions before a Carlin shot finally ended the run. English scored seven points for the Lady Privateers during the run while Frazier added five.
The Lady Lions kept UNO within striking distance, pulling within four at 64-60 on a Charinee Mitchell three-pointer with 2:22 remaining in the contest. Andrea Williams made a critical free throw to push the lead back to five and a Felder jumped extended it to seven. A SLU turnover led to an English basket on the other end to give UNO a nine point advantage.
A Carlin three-pointer ignited a late 7-0 run to bring the UNO lead down to two. Frazier made both free throws to extend the lead to four with 31 seconds left in the game. SLU missed two three-point attempts in the waning seconds and Felder would make both free throws following a defensive rebound to push UNO's lead to an insurmountable six point lead with 4.2 seconds remaining.
With the win, UNO completed out of conference play with a 6-5 record for the second straight year. These two years represent the only times since 2001-02, that the Lady Privateers finished non-conference play with a winning percentage of over .500.
The Lady Privateers complete their three-game road swing when the face conference rival Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 5 with tip scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
