KATY, Texas – The career of one of the most decorated student-athletes in Privateer history has come to a close but the 2017-18 season featured many milestones.
Randi Brown became the second player in program history to eclipse 2,000 points,
Kayla Mundy, who also concludes her collegiate career, and
Shania Woods earned Southland Conference honorable mention selections. Three other seniors –
Halie Matthews,
Katarina Mataric and
Mariah Wright contributed to one of the best improvements in all of women's basketball. Two years ago, UNO won just eight games and has now won 14 and 15, respectively, as head coach
Keeshawn Davenport builds a Southland contender on the Lakefront.
Unfortunately, the University of New Orleans (15-15) fell to Abilene Christian University (16-13) 88-66 Wednesday afternoon at the Merrell Center. The 15 wins are the most since the 2000-01 season, Davenport's senior season.
"I am so proud of our team and what they were able to accomplish but we need to continue to make strides to becoming one of the top Southland programs," said Davenport. "We missed some opportunities and didn't get the stops we needed. When we broke ACU's press, we needed to be aggressive and play at a tempo comfortable for us. We weren't able to do that in the second."
ON RECRUITING
"Our recent success has allowed us to get local recruits, especially with the careers Halie and Randi had, to join New Orleans and become a part of the winning culture we are building."
FIRST QUARTER
New Orleans pressed early, forcing two turnovers en route to a 6-2 lead. The Privateers took a 15-6 cushion (8-0 run) before Abilene Christian cut the gap, sending us into the second period with UNO leading 17-15.
Shania Woods had six points and two board and Brown added four points and five rebounds.
SECOND QUARTER
ACU completed the comeback, tying the game at 30 with just over a minute remaining, or so it seemed, as the officials reversed a
Jada Swafford triple at the 3:38 mark to a two-pointer, sending the Privateers into the break down 30-29.
The Silver and Blue were led by
Shania Woods' six points, Brown added four points, six boards and two steals and
Asia Woods followed with five rebounds, three dimes and two steals. Mundy scored five points and Swafford chipped in four.
THIRD QUARTER
The Wildcats caught fire to begin the second half, taking a 40-31 lead on a 10-2 run and extended their lead to 11 with 5:58 to go in the stanza.
Abilene was in the driver's seat through three quarters, leading 59-46 heading into the final period of regulation.
FOURTH QUARTER
ACU matched its point total from the third to advance to the Southland quarterfinals to take on No. 3 Central Arkansas tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Brown finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists,
Shania Woods added 10 points and four boards. Swafford came off the bench with eight points and two blocked shots.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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