HOUSTON, Texas - The New Orleans Privateers basketball teams kick off a five-game conference road trip on Thursday, when both teams take on Houston Baptist. Tip of the women's game is slated for 5 p.m.
The Privateers women's team (0-17, 0-6 Southland) returns to the site of their last road victory, a 65-58 triumph, which occurred on Feb. 9, 2013. Since then, New Orleans has dropped 13 straight road games, and is 0-9 in road games this season.
Freshman guard,
Octavia Wilson has reached double figures in points in her last five contests. Wilson put up 20 against Sam Houston State on Saturday, her second game of 20-plus points. Wilson also hit four triples, and now has sunk 12 three-pointers, tied for seventh-most in the Southland since conference play began.
Sophomore,
Yasmin Taylor had a solid comeback weekend. After missing the previous eight games due to injury, Taylor fell just shy of a double-double in both conference games. After posting an eight-point, nine-rebound total against Lamar, Taylor scored a career-high 12 points and pulled down nine boards against Sam Houston State.
Houston Baptist (6-11, 2-4) split their most recent conference weekend. After defeating Nicholls State, the Huskies fell 66-62 to McNeese State in their most recent outing on Saturday.
Under first-year head coach, Donna Finnie, the Huskies have posted a 4-2 mark at Sharp Gym while only going 2-9 on the road. They have garnered home victories against Southern Utah, Texas-Arlington, Huston-Tillotson, and Northwestern State.
The Huskies are led by Shanice Steenholdt who is averaging 17.7 points per game, the third-highest mark in the conference. Steenholdt also ranks in the top five in the conference in rebounds (9.1), blocks (1.5), and field-goal percentage (52.0). Steenholdt had two statistically different meetings against the Privateers last season. In Houston Baptist's win at Lakefront Arena, Steenholdt had 23 points. In their home loss, Steenholdt was held to just eight points.
The Huskies have two other players who average double-figures. Rachel Arthur is averaging 11.2 points per game, while Erin McGarrachan is contributing 10.0 points per game.
The Privateers men's team (5-9, 2-4) kicks off their road trip after splitting the weekend. They took a 77-55 decision over Lamar, but fell 77-70 against Sam Houston State.
New Orleans enters play fourth in the Southland in rebounding margin (+1.8). The Privateers have won the battle on the boards in all six of their conference games. The last opponent to out-rebound the Privateers was Michigan State.
Tradarrius McPhearson has stepped up in the scoring department. He provided a game-high 16 points against Sam Houston State, and notched his sixth double-digit scoring effort of the season. In 21 games last year, McPhearson had four double-digit scoring outputs.
Kevin Hill scored a career-high 17 points against Lamar on Thursday, while posting his third career double-double. Hill followed that performance up with 10 points and eight boards in just 19 minutes on Saturday.
Houston Baptist (4-14, 1-5) is searching to break through offensively. They currently rank last in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 65.2 points per game. Last weekend, the Huskies lost both games by two points each. This season, the Huskies have had five games decided by five points or less.
The Huskies have three players in double figures, led by Rob Lewis' 11.5 points per game. Tyler Russell and Cody Joyce follow with 10.7 and 10.1 points per game respectively. Houston Baptist has had a different leading scorer in each of their last four contests.
Audio of the men's game will be available on WGSO 990 AM and wgso.com with Jude Young. Live Video feeds of both contests will also be avaliable free, on Houston Baptist's website.
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