NEW ORLEANS - UALR won their fifth straight Sun Belt Conference game to
open their conference slate as they defeated the University of New
Orleans 61-45 on Saturday afternoon at Lakefront Arena.
Anshel Cooper was the top scorer for UALR (13-3, 5-0 SBC) as she scored a game-high 22 points. New Orleans native Chastity Reed added another 15 points for the Trojans while Marian Kursh grabbed eight rebounds.
UNO (8-8, 3-3 SBC) was led by
Brittany Helm, who scored 16 points which included 7 of 8 shooting from the charity stripe.
Turnovers caused problems for the Lady Privateers as UNO turned the ball over 14 times in the second half after limiting their turnovers to just seven in the first 20 minutes of the game. UALR capitalized on the opportunities, scoring 17 points to just six for UNO.
The Trojans opened up a 28-25 contest early in the second half with a 9-1 run to extend their advantage to 11.
After having just seven turnovers in the opening half, UNO matched the total in the first nine minutes and change in the second half as the Trojans built a 16-point advantage at 44-28.
The Lady Privateers would pull within nine at 38-27, but that was as close as they would get as the visitors lead expanded t0 21 points.
UALR led for the length of the opening half, going into the break with a 24-21 advantage.
The teams tied four teams during the first 20 minutes, the last of which came on a
Jada Frazier three-pointer which capped a 5-0 run for the Lady Privateers to knot the score at 17.
UNO opened the game shooting 2 of 9 from the field as they fell behind five at 11-6 early in the contest before making three consecutive field goals allowing the team to pull within one at 13-12.
The Lady Privateers will welcome Pelican State rival LSU to the Crescent City on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. for UNO's final out of conference tilt of the 2008-09 season.
