New Orleans, Louisiana- The University of New Orleans women's basketball team will face the McNeese State Cowgirls at Lakefront Arena, Thursday, Feb. 16 in a pivotal Southland Conference contest for both teams. Tipoff is set for 7 p. m.
New Orleans (12-11,7-6) is one-half game ahead of McNeese State (11-12,6-6) in Southland Conference standings.
"We're both vying for position in the conference standings and that fourth spot right now," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "We're coming off a loss and they are coming off a win with some momentum so it's a big game."
The Privateers suffered a defeat at the hands of Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond last Saturday, 85-70 despite forcing 30 Lady Lion turnovers.
Randi Brown (Human Performance), the leading scorer in the Southland Conference, tallied 29 points in the loss and averages 20.7 points a game. She also leads the conference in points scored with 476. The junior is now the fifth leading scorer in University of New Orleans history with 1,287 points for her career. She also leads the Southland in 3 pointers made with 65.
Sophomore center
Shania Woods (Accounting) continues to pace the Privateers in rebounding averaging 6.9 a contest, good enough for 8
th in the conference. She is the club's second leading scorer (9.0) and is hitting over 50 percent of her shots (88-of-166).
Davenport has nothing but praise for her productive bench-players. The leader off the bench has been junior
Halie Matthews (Biological Science) who has recorded four consecutive double figure games averaging 12 points and 4 rebounds during that stretch. Matthews also leads the team in blocked shots (20).
"She's putting multiple games together and I just wish that she can sustain that throughout her junior year." Davenport continued, "But it's not just the reserves who are getting minutes, you have to give credit to the players who may not see a minute of playing time but are so vital to getting the others ready to play. All those ladies work hard every day."
Kayla Mundy (Human Performance) has been solid off the bench averaging 6.5 points and 2.7 rebounds a contest. She has had 7 double figure games including a 17-point performance against Iowa State. Senior
Jewel Angelo (Interdisciplinary Studies) hasn't started a game this season but averages 6 points and 2 rebounds a game.
Senior
Raven Coleman (Interdisciplinary Studies) scores 3 points and grabs 4 rebounds an outing.
UNO continues to lead the Southland in 3-point field goal percentage knocking down 124-of-344 for .360 percent. The Privateers average 69.2 points an outing while yielding 65.4 for a scoring margin of +3.8, 5
th best in the league.
The Cowgirls snapped a four-game losing streak with a 78-61 win over Incarnate Word last Saturday. New Orleans took the first game between the two teams last month in Lake Charles, 71-59.
McNeese State has seven players averaging between 10.4 and 7.6 points a game, led by senior guard Victoria Rachal. Frederica Haywood is the second-leading rebounder in the Southland Conference at 10.0.
New Orleans leads the all-time series with McNeese 15-13. As members of the Southland Conference McNeese has won 5 and the Privateers 2.
New Orleans' next game will be Thursday, Feb. 23 when Stephen F. Austin comes to Lakefront Arena for a 5:30 p. m. start. It's the first game of a doubleheader as the New Orleans men will face Stephen F. Austin at 7:45 p. m.
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--
