New Orleans - The University of New Orleans women's basketball team will close their regular season home schedule, Wednesday, Feb. 21, when Sam Houston State comes to Lakefront Arena for a 7 p. m. contest.
A New Orleans win will clinch a berth in the Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive season.
New Orleans (13-13, 9-6 SLC) is coming off an 84-62 win over the McNeese Cowgirls as
Shania Woods led the way with a career-high 31 points. The Privateers have won two-in-a-row while Sam Houston State (4-20, 1-14 SLC) has dropped seven-in-a-row.
The Privateers are fifth in the Southland Conference with 3 games left on the schedule. The top eight teams in the standings qualify for the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas, March 8-11.
"We're at a point now where we're staying focused, we're staying humble and we're staying hungry," said head coach
Keeshawn Davenport. "We are not in Katy. We are in the Lakefront Arena and that's where our attention is."
This will serve as the swan song at home for senior
Randi Brown, who leads the Southland Conference in scoring with 21.3 points a contest. Brown has dished out 2.6 assists, she has hit 83.4 percent of her free throws, averaged 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
She needs five points to move into seventh-place all-time on the Southland Conference career scoring list. Against Southeastern she became the second player to surpass the 2-thousand-point mark. Brown is currently at 2,224 career-points.
Shania Woods has had a superlative junior season for the Privateers. After the previously mentioned 31-point outing versus McNeese, Woods averages 12.5 points a game and is one of the top rebounders in the conference pulling down 8.8 a game. She ranks third in the SLC in total rebounds with 228 and her 49.8 shooting percentage from the field places her third in the conference. Woods has reached double figures in points and rebounds in a game 11 times this season.
Senior guard
Kayla Mundy averages 11.1 points-per-game and is second in the Southland in free throw shooting, 67-of-75, that's 89.3% from the charity stripe.
As a team New Orleans is tops in free throw shooting with a team-average of 76.8 %, hitting 385-of-501 attempts.
The Bearkats are led by guard Jennifer Oramas whose numbers show her consistency and all-around game averaging 10.4 points and 10.4 rebounds a game. The last time the Privateers faced the Bearkats was last season at Lakefront Arena, a 78-49 win for UNO and the home team never trailed in the game.
"I honestly believe Sam Houston is not a 1-14 team. They are just a young team that hasn't figured out how to close games," said Davenport. "They are not a team to be taken lightly."
New Orleans will close the regular season with road games against Nicholls on Feb. 24 and Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 28.
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