Nacogdoches, Texas – Junior post
Halie Matthews came off the bench to score a team-high 13 points and senior forward
Raven Coleman pulled down a team-best seven rebounds, but it was not enough as the University of New Orleans women's basketball team dropped an 88-61 decision to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday afternoon in William R. Johnson Coliseum.
"They came out like champions responding to losing their last game," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "Their energy and their effort set the tone in the first quarter. They hit first and came out of the gate real strong."
After a basket by SFA's Brentney Branch for the game's first points, senior guard
Ariele Davis buried a 3-pointer to give the Privateers a 3-2 advantage just under a minute into the contest. That, however, would be New Orleans' lone lead of the day as the Lumberjacks rattled off 13 unanswered points over the next 3:02 and led by double figures for all but 37 seconds the rest of the way.
As a team, the Privateers hit 36.5 percent from the field (23-of-63), including a .438 clip from beyond the 3-point arc (7-of-16), and outrebounded Stephen F. Austin, 38-34. The Lumberjacks countered with a 52.5 field goal percentage (32-of-61) and buried 18-of-23 free throws (.783) to cruise to the victory. A big reason or that was turnovers as UNO committed 24 and SFA was able to turn the miscues into 32 points while posting a 21-2 advantage in fast-break points.
Matthews was the only UNO student-athlete to finish in double figures offensively as the guard combo of redshirt-sophomore
Mariah Wright added nine and sophomore
Danielle Wright had eight. Sophomore center
Shania Woods paced the Privateers with four assists while Coleman, freshman guard
Jada Swafford and
Danielle Wright shared team-high steal honors with two thefts apiece.
Trailing 27-15 at the end of the first quarter and down by 14 at 33-19 with 6:29 to go before halftime, the Privateers got to within 10 at 33-23 on a pair of free throws by Swafford and a bucket by Coleman. Stephen F. Austin quickly quieted any talks of a UNO comeback over the final six-plus minutes as the Lumberjacks outscored the Privateers 17-2 the rest of the stanza – including a 13-0 run – to go into the break on top 50-25.
It was more of the same in the third quarter as Stephen F. Austin pushed its lead to as many as 32 at 73-41 with 42 seconds remaining in the stanza. UNO actually outscored the Lumberjacks 18-15 in the fourth quarter, but the game had long since been decided.
Taylor Ross led Stephen F. Austin with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field while draining 5-of-7 free throw tries. She also led the Lumberjacks with eight assists to go with five rebounds and four steals. Stevi Parker was next for the home team offensively with 16 points while Branch and Adrienne Lewis added 15 and 10, respectively. Parker led all players with six steals and Lewis had three of the team's six blocked shots.
"Some games you've just got to trash and move on to the next one and that's exactly what we're going to do with this one," said Davenport.
New Orleans returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 2, when the Privateers open a three-game home stand with a 7 p.m. showdown against Lamar in Lakefront Arena. UNO will also host Nicholls on Feb. 4 before closing out the run in the Crescent City on Thursday, Feb. 9, against Incarnate Word. For tickets to those games, as well as future New Orleans Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking
HERE.
--www.UNOPrivateers.com--
