NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans women's basketball could not maintain their double-figure lead as Southern-New Orleans rallied for a 56-53 victory at The Castle on Thursday night.
SUNO (17-1) bounced back from their lone loss of the season behind the efforts of Lydia Ross, who scored 14 points off the bench. Kelly Stewart added another 10 for the Lady Knight.
Mirjam Sipos scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for UNO (3-19).
Dinnelle Cormier chipped in 14 points for the Lady Privateers, with just four points on the escond half.
UNO used a 9-0 run in the first half to take their first lead on SUNO.
The Lady Knights led for the first 12:40 of the contest, with their last advantage of the opening half coming at 15-13 with 8:47 before the break. When
Spring Drake buried a there-pointer with 7:56 remaining before the half, it jump-started a 9-0 run that gave the advantage to the Lady Privateers.
UNO would retain their lead heading into the break with a 30-24 edge. Cormier had 10 points before the half on 5 of 8 shooting with eight of her scores coming in the team's first 10 points on the scoreboard.
The momentum carried to the second half as the Lady Privateers scored the half's first seven points to increase their lead to 37-24 with 16:46 remaining in the game. A sudden halt to the UNO scoring allowed SUNO to make a game of it.
The Lady Knights scored 17 of 20 points to take a 41-40 lead with 8:26, their first advantage of the second half. The teams would battle through five ties in the second half with a Christine Conner jumper with 1:41 putting SUNO on top 55-53.
Neither team could capitalize with the game nearing its conclusion. Stewart made 1 of 2 free throws for the Lady Knights with 17 seconds left giving UNO their last possession. The Lady Privateers were off the mark on their shot, ending the season for head coach Amy Champion's squad.
