New Orleans- The University of New Orleans women's basketball team travels to the state of Alabama for the second time this season facing Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Alabama, Tuesday, Nov.22, at Pete Mathews Coliseum. UNO opened the season with a road game against the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 11.
New Orleans (1-3) will try to rebound from a tough loss at home to South Alabama on Saturday, 65-62. The Privateers led at the half by one and by six at the end of three quarters but could not hold on down the stretch. However, the outing did show positive signs.
"Our defense did improve," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "We did have good rotation on defense and I was really happy with the effort off the bench."
The South Alabama game was a coming-out party for
Jada Swafford (Psychology). The freshman bolted off the bench to score a career-high 15 points, hitting 5-of-7 shots from the field including 1 three-pointer.
Although the Privateers got 27 points from bench players, it was more than scoring that pleased Davenport.
"We got extra energy and possessions thanks to
Raven Coleman (Interdisciplinary Studies) with her work on the boards and
Kayla Mundy (Human Performance) who hit some good transition shots for us."
Randi Brown (Human Performance) led UNO in scoring with 17 points against USA. Brown, the Southland Conference's 5
th leading scorer at 18.3 a contest, ranks 3
rd in the conference in 3 pointers at 2.5 a game. The junior was a Preseason First Team All-Southland Conference selection.
Sophomore center
Shania Woods (Accounting) averages 9 points and 6 rebounds and ranks fourth in the SLC in field goal percentage at .533.
As a team, the Privateers are 5
th in scoring defense (64.5), 4
th in 3-point defense (.029) and second in the Southland in blocked shots with a total of 33. Freshman center
Whitley Larry (Pre Secondary Education) ranks fourth in the Southland in blocked shots at 1.3 an outing. She had a season high four blocked shots against Southern Mississippi.
Jacksonville State (2-2) of the Ohio Valley Conference, reached the .500 mark for the season with a 67-55 win at home over Georgia Southern on Sunday. The Gamecocks were led by Rayven Pearson with 15 points. The team's leading scorer on the season averaging 13 a game, Briana Benson, had 14 in the win over win Georgia Southern.
"Very similar to South Alabama, a guard-heavy team always ready to drive. Everyone is looking to get to the rim and score," said Davenport.
This will be the third meeting between the Privateers and the Gamecocks. Jacksonville State has a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series winning 54-51 in 2013 in New Orleans and 55-51 in 2014 in Jacksonville, Alabama.
The next time the Privateers hit the floor will be Wednesday, Nov. 30, at Lakefront Arena to face Texas Southern. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p. m.
For tickets to that game and other Privateer Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking
HERE.
--www.UNOPrivateers.com--
