New Orleans, Louisiana- After a nine-day holiday break, the University of New Orleans women's basketball team returns to action Thursday, Dec. 29, when they'll face Crowley's Ridge College from Paragould, Arkansas. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p. m.
New Orleans (4-5) dropped their last outing to 16
th ranked Texas on the road, 80-48 on Dec. 20.
"It doesn't feel like we had that many days off," said Privateer head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "Our practices have been so hard they've felt like game mode so I don't look at it as nine days off."
Thursday's game could be historical as
Randi Brown (Human Performance) sets her sights on reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her career. The leading scorer in the Southland Conference at 19.4 points a game is 14 points shy of reaching that milestone. Brown would become the 16
th New Orleans female basketballer to surpass 1,000 points. Sandra Hodge (1981-85) is the school's all-time career scoring leader at 2,824 points.
"There are very few people at this level that join the 1,000-point-club as a junior and still have a season left. But that shows you the work ethic she's put in and I'm very excited for her," said Davenport.
The Houma, Louisiana native leads the team in points (175) field goals, (60), 3 pointers (21), assists (23) and steals (13).
Senior
Jewel Angelo (Interdisciplinary Studies) continued her inspiring play off the bench. The Manvel, Texas guard had a career-high 17 points in the loss to Texas. It was her fourth double figure outing of the season.
"We really like the Jewel that has showed up lately," said Davenport. "She's not thinking about the game she just plays and reacts to what the defense has given her."
Shania Woods (Accounting), a sophomore center leads the Privateers in rebounding averaging 6.9 a contest, good enough for 10
th in the Southland Conference. She is also the team's second leading scorer at 8.2 an outing.
Crowley's Ridge College (3-11) is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association. They dropped their last outing to Harding University 81-30 on Dec. 17. The last time the two teams met was Dec. 6, 2014 when UNO took an 87-54 win over the Lady Pioneers at Lakefront Arena.
"It's one of those games where you can't afford to look past anyone." Davenport continued, "They are a scrappy team that likes to shoot three pointers so we will get lots of practice guarding the three-point line.
The Privateers will open Southland Conference competition Saturday, Dec. 31, at 4 p. m. when Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to Lakefront Arena. The game is the opener of a doubleheader capped by a match between the New Orleans men's team against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. For tickets to those games 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--
