NEW ORLEANS -
Le'Della English and
Andrea Williams made the most of
their Senior Night with strong performances in the second half as the
University of New Orleans won 54-52 over North Texas on Saturday
afternoon.
English scored a team-high 15 points, all coming in the second while Williams blocked a season-high five shots after having not registered a block since the Feb. 2 win over Troy.
UNO (13-16, 7-11 SBC) almost got another double-double out of
Talishia Young, who finished the game with 10 points and nine rebounds as the Lady Privateers wrapped up their regular season.
NT (13-17, 8-10 SBC) was led by Erica Howard with 14 points and Jo Hall with 12 points.
The Lady Privateers got off to a strong start scoring the first 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field. Young and
Brittany Helm each had four points during the run.
NT would make a run to close the gap as they had a 5 of 7 shooting performance of their own after opening the game with eight straight misses from the field. Young would have eight points and seven rebounds at the end of the opening 20 minutes for the Lady Privateers.
The second half began with both teams shooting poorly from the field. English would not score her first basket til 13:26 of the second half as UNO took a five point lead at 33-28 after almost losing the lead for the first time all game.
The Mean Green would knot the game at 40 piece, their first tie of the contest, but the Lady Privateers led by English, who made all six free throws she would attempt, including two with 51 seconds remaining would keep UNO in the driver's seat.
An English jumper with 10 seconds left after Hall brought NT within two at the 52 second mark would be all the Lady Privateers would need to take the win as an Amber Jackson lay-up with four seconds left was all NT could muster.
The Lady Privateers, who earned the ninth seed, will open SBC tournament play at 5 p.m Wednesday in Denton, Texas against the same Mean Green team, who wrapped up play as the eighth seed.
