NEW ORLEANS -
Le'Della English netted a season-high 26 points, but it
was not enough as the University of New Orleans fell 75-64 to Western
Kentucky on Thursday night.
English shot a strong 8 of 11 from the field for UNO (9-10, 3-5 SBC) including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc to pace the Lady Privateers offense.
Brittany Helm added 12 points while
Talishia Young had eight.
WKU (15-5, 8-0 SBC) had three players in double-figures led by Crystal Kelly with 29 points. Kenzie Rich added 16 points while Charlotte Marshall had 10. Kelly completed a double-double performance with a team-high 11 rebounds while Arnika Brown had 10.
Rebounding was the key for WKU as the Lady Toppers took advantage of the glass to the tune of a 40-16 advantage including 15-4 on the offensive end.
Crisp shooting got the Lady Privateers off to a strong start. In the first eight minutes of play, English scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting including making two shots from beyond the arc. On the whole, UNO made 5 of 10 shots from the field to begin the game in addition to their first four shots from the charity stripe as they took an early 17-13 lead.
The Lady Toppers scored the next 11 points as UNO would go scoreless for nearly six minutes before a returning
Jada Frazier nailed a three-pointer to stop the run as the Lady Privateers would pull within two at 24-22 before WKU made three-pointers on back to back possessions to push the lead back to eight.
WKU would carry an 11 point lead into the half with a 39-28 lead as Kelly and Rich had 13 apiece for the Lady Toppers at the half as the team shot 54.2 percent for the opening 20 minutes in comparison to UNO's 43.5 percent shooting.
In the second half, UNO would force three early turnovers as the Lady Privateers would score 6 of the first 8 points after the break. English had another strong start in the second half making 4 of 5 shots in the first eight minutes of play as UNO pulled within four at 54-50.l
The Lady Toppers would extend the lead to 11 on a three-point play by Kelly with 16:08 left before a UNO run cut the lead down to three at 49-46 with 14:06 to go as English made back to back three-pointers to fuel the run. WKU would control the tempo the remainder of the game extending the lead to as much as 11 to close out the game.
The Lady Privateers hit the road for Florida with a Saturday tilt against Florida International beginning at 4:15 p.m. Live video will be available through UNO Vision with
Mike Wagenheim providing the call on WGSO 990 AM.
