New Orleans, Louisiana- When the University of New Orleans and the University of Central Arkansas meet Saturday, Jan. 21 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, it's a certainty that a three-game winning streak will be snapped. Two of the hottest teams in the Southland Conference will collide in a matchup set for a 4 p. m. tipoff.
The Privateers and the Sugar Bears come into the game with identical conference records at 4-2.
New Orleans won its third in a row Thursday at Houston Baptist, 73-63. The current streak is the longest for the Privateers since a four game run at the end of the 2014-15 season. The victory over the Huskies was also the third win on the road this season for UNO.
"A championship-caliber team not only wins games at home but they win on the road. And as we try to become a championship team we are trying to pick up more road wins," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport.
New Orleans will depend on junior guard
Randi Brown (Human Performance) for much of the team's offensive firepower. Brown continues to pace the Southland Conference (SLC) in scoring at 21.7 points a game and in conference games only she nets 25.2 an outing. Brown also leads the SLC in points scored (347) and 3 pointers made per game (3.1)
Her 24-point performance against HBU gives her 1,158 career points and moves her into ninth place among all-time scorers at the University of New Orleans.
Sophomore
Shania Woods (Accounting) is inching towards double figure scoring averaging 9.5 a contest and she leads New Orleans in rebounding grabbing 8.8 a game---sixth best in the Southland. The Cypress, Texas native had 13 points and 5 rebounds versus Houston Baptist and she is seventh in the conference in field goal percentage (.536).
"When Shania scores baskets on the inside that helps us on offense and defense," said Davenport. "When she scores you've got to pay attention to her and it opens things up for Randi and the rest of the team."
Guard
Kayla Mundy (Human Performance) had 12 points against HBU for her third straight double figure performance off the bench. The junior from McKinney, Texas is averaging 13 points a game during the three game win streak.
Halie Matthews (Biological Sciences) hauled in a season-high 9 rebounds against the Huskies and guard
Mariah Wright (Computer Science) tallied 9 points.
Central Arkansas (12-4,4-2), the defending conference tournament champ, won its last outing over Mc Neese, Wednesday, 67-52. The Sugar Bears are led by Maggie Proffitt and Kierra Jordan, both averaging 14.2 points a game.
UCA leads the Southland Conference in a number of categories, field goal percentage (.470), defensive field goal percentage (.347), scoring margin (+16.8), assists (17.3) and blocks (4.2).
"Central Arkansas is a really good team. They are solid defensively and they have a few good threats offensively. But they are coming to Lakefront Arena and we are planning on defending our ship," said Davenport.
This will be the sixth meeting between the two schools. Central Arkansas leads the all-time series 5-0.
The Privateers will be on the road against McNeese State Jan. 26, and Stephen F. Austin Jan. 28 before returning home for a game against Lamar, Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 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--
