New Orleans Claims First Win Of The Season Over CSUN In Preseason WNIT, 76-73

New Orleans– The University of New Orleans women's basketball team picked up its first win of the season with a thrilling, come-from-behind, 76-73 win over CSUN in the Consolation Round of the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament, Friday night at Lakefront Arena.
 
New Orleans (1-1) will face Houston (1-1), 74-59 winners over Milwaukee in the first game of the consolation round, Saturday, November 18, at Lakefront Arena at 4:30 p. m.  CSUN (0-3) will take on Milwaukee (0-2) in the second round Saturday at 2:00 p. m. 
 
New Orleans was led by last year's Southland Conference scoring champ, Randi Brown, who bounced back from a sub-par scoring night in the season opener against Louisiana-Lafayette (10 points), with a 38-point performance.  Senior Kayla Mundy with 13 was the only other Privateer in double figures.
 
The key to the game was turnovers.  Despite shooting a frigid 22-of-72 from the field (30.6percent), UNO forced 37 turnovers scoring 33 points off those miscues.  The Privateers committed only 12 turnovers on the night.
 
UNO had a difficult time with the tall group from California, led by 6-4 center Channon Fluker who had 32 points and 20 rebounds, 6-2 Tessa Boagni with 14 points and 5 rebounds and Eliza Matthews with 14 and 7 rebounds.  The Matadors outrebounded New Orleans 57-28.
 
"Once we figured out how to stop Miss Fluker, it gave us an opportunity to play our kind of ball, which is transition basketball," said head coach Keeshawn Davenport.  "We made a few adjustments and it worked."
 
FIRST QUARTER
 
Despite shooting 23.5 percent from the field, New Orleans trailed by four, 18-14 at the end of the first period.  CSUN's 17-5 rebounding advantage in the period was a sign of things to come.  Randi Brown led the Privateers with 8 points and Channon Fluker paced the Matadors with 8.
 
SECOND QUARTER
 
Fluker really asserted herself in the second period with 14 points and 7 boards, giving her halftime totals of 22 and 15. New Orleans never led during the second with CSUN grabbing seven-point leads twice.  Randi Brown had 11 and went into intermission with 19 points as CSUN led by five, 34-29 at the break.
 
THIRD QUARTER
 
A Fluker layup at the 3:15 mark gave CSUN its largest lead--10-points at 47-37.  Eliza Matthews had 7 points in the third for the Matadors as they headed to the fourth quarter leading by 8 points, 55-47.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
 
The final period was a wild-and-crazy affair.  CSUN led by nine (68-59) with 4:01 to go in regulation, however a 13-2 run by the Privateers erased the margin in only 1:42 seconds.  The key sequence was a Randi Brown 3-pointer to cut the lead to 70-69, an acrobatic steal by Halie Matthews (8 points, 8rebounds, 3 steals), and another Brown trey, all in a span of 16 seconds and UNO had its first lead since the first period at 72-70 with 2:19 to go.
 
Two freebies by Tessa Boagni put CSUN up by one, 73-72.  A Kayla Mundy layup gave UNO a 74-73 lead and a twisting drive by Brown made it 76-73 with 13 second to go.  New Orleans weathered 3 desperation attempts from beyond the 3-point arch for the win.  UNO outscored CSUN in the fourth 29-18.  The Privateers held Fluker to 4 points and 2 rebounds in the fourth and deciding quarter.
 
NEXT OPPONENT
"Houston is similar to us.  It's going to be an up tempo game against Houston because we're pressing and they're pressing.  So it's going to be who can take care of the ball and who can score successfully," said Davenport.
 
Tickets for the Preseason WNIT are priced at $5 for adults and $3 for youth (ages3-12).
 
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