Natchitoches, Louisiana- Junior center
Shania Woods scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season but it was not enough as New Orleans (11-11, 7-4 SLC) fell to Northwestern State (7-14, 2-8 SLC) Wednesday night in Natchitoches, 52-47.
It was just one week ago that New Orleans defeated the Lady Demons easily, 81-63, at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. But a difficult shooting night which saw the Privateers get only 2 points from
Randi Brown, the Southland Conference's leading scorer all season, was too much for the Privateers to overcome.
UNO got 11 points from senior guard
Kayla Mundy who also had 4 assists and 2 steals in 40 minutes of play. And senior post player
Halie Matthews contributed 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks off the bench in 22 minutes of action.
"I don't think we played with much energy tonight and although we forced some turnovers (22) we didn't capitalize on our defense tonight," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "You win some and lose some. Put it in a basket, throw it away and start all over again Saturday against Nicholls."
FIRST QUARTER
New Orleans grabbed control, jumping out to an 11-2 advantage with
Kayla Mundy (7) and
Shania Woods (4) accounting for all of the points. Six straight Lady Demon points made it 11-8 as the Privateers took a five-point, 13-8 lead into the second period.
SECOND QUARTER
Northwestern State outscored UNO 15-13 in the quarter but the Privateers ended the first half leading, 26-23. A five-point UNO lead was cut to 2, 22-20 on a Nautica Grant 3-pointer---her second of the period. A
Shania Woods jumper and a
Halie Matthews layup completed the scoring for the Privateers and the half ended 26-23. New Orleans never trailed during the first two quarters.
Shania Woods and
Kayla Mundy had 9 points each and Northwestern State got 17 bench-points.
THIRD QUARTER
Northwestern State tied it at 30 taking their first lead on a Gabby Bell 3-pointer and it was 33-30 Lady Demons at the 5:51 mark. It was tied at 35 when
Mariah Wright scored 4 straight on a jumper and two free throws to make it 39-35 New Orleans. But a Leah Barnes jumper and 2 Victoria Miller freebies with :02 seconds to go tied it at 39 going into the fourth quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER
New Orleans jumped out to a quick four-point lead thanks to baskets by
Halie Matthews and
Randi Brown to make it 43-39 Privateers after only :35 seconds of play. The four points would be half of their eight-point final quarter output. At the 3:31 mark Nautica Grant canned another 3-pointer to make it 45-44 UNO. Grant led the Lady Demons with 12 points. But two 3-pointers by Jocelyn Scott---her only points of the night----gave them the lead for good, 50-45, at the 2:01 mark. A
Shania Woods bucket pulled the Privateers to within 3 at 50-47, but Northwestern State added a couple of late free throws to ice the win, 52-47.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Privateers shot 33.3% from the field (20-of-60), 7.1% from the free throw line (1-of-14) and 50.0% from the free throw line. New Orleans leads the Southland Conference in team free throw shooting at .761.
With 11 points tonight, guard
Kayla Mundy has reached double figures in scoring in 10 of the last 11 games.
Randi Brown, the nation's tenth leading scorer and tops in the Southland Conference was 1-of-13 from the field including 0-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc in 37 minutes. It was her lowest point total of the season (2) and was only the second time this season she failed to reach double figures.
The loss snapped the Privateers 5-game win streak.
UP NEXT
New Orleans will host Nicholls at Lakefront Arena, Saturday February 3 at 2 p. m. It will be Senior Day as 5 Privateers seniors will be honored,
Halie Matthews,
Kayla Mundy,
Katarina Maricic,
Randi Brown and
Mariah Wright.
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--www.UNOPrivateers.com--
