CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The New Orleans Privateers men's and women's basketball teams continue their five-game Southland road trip against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Saturday. The women's game starts the doubleheader with a 4 p.m. tip.
The Privateers women (0-18, 0-7 Southland) are coming off a 66-54 loss to Houston Baptist. It was their second-closest margin of defeat this season, only behind their three-point loss at home against Jacksonville State.
In the game, New Orleans forced 23 turnovers and out-rebounded the Huskies 43-31. However, they turned 18 offensive rebounds into only 10 second chance points, and committed 28 turnovers of their own in the loss.
Freshman,
Raven Coleman notched her first career double-double by scoring 10 points and collecting 12 rebounds. Since conference play started, Coleman is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game, and the former John Ehret Patriot has also collected 26 offensive boards, tied for third-most in that span.
Freshman,
Octavia Wilson continues to boost her scoring average. Wilson poured in a team-high 17 points against Houtson Baptist and has now scored in double figures in six straight games. The longest streak of double-digit scoring efforts by a Privateers women's player in all of 2012-13 was nine games by
Keri Thomas.
The Islanders (9-9, 2-5) are coming in off an 83-54 win over Southeastern on Thursday. The victory snapped a four-game conference losing streak with three of those losses coming by single digits. This is the first time these two schools will meet.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is led offensively by senior guard, Jasmine Shaw who averages 16.3 points per game, fifth-highest in the conference. Shaw's season-high in points is 29 in a loss at Northwestern State. On that night, Shaw was 7-of-12 from three-point range. Shaw has also been near automatic from the free throw line, converting at an 89.4 percent clip (42-of-47).
Freshman, Brittany Mbamalu is second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game. Mbamalu scored 38 points combined in the Islanders' two games last weekend, but was limited to just two points in the loss to Southeastern.
The Privateers men's team (6-9, 3-4) takes to the floor looking to build on a strong finish in their 79-66 win over Houston Baptist. Holding just a three-point lead with six minutes remaining, the Privateers went on a 15-0 run to salt the game away for the first conference road win since 2009.
Freshman guard,
Christavious Gill returned from missing the last two games due to injury to lead the Privateers on the night. Gill achieved new career highs in minutes (34) and points (18). Gill also started for the first time this season.
The Privateers won the battle on the boards 41-22 in Thursday's win. They were led in that category by
Kevin Hill and
Terrance Syon who had eight boards each. In three games since being inserted into the starting lineup, Hill has pulled down 28 rebounds.
Entering Saturday's game, the Privateers are tied for third in the Southland in rebounding margin (+3.1). New Orleans' 39.1 rebounds per game ranks them second in the conference only behind Incarnate Word.
The Islanders (9-11, 6-1) are coming off of a 74-71 victory over Southeastern on Thursday night, and currently are second in the Southland standings. Leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the win was John Jordan with 14 points and nine assists and Zane Knowles with a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling 11 rebounds.
The men's game will be broadcast live on WGSO 990 AM and wgso.com with "Voice of the Privateers" Jude Young calling the action. Pregame starts 15 minutes after the conlcusion of the women's game.
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