NEW ORLEANS GETS BACK ON THE WINNING TRACK ON THE ROAD AT NORTHWESTERN STATE, 67-62

Natchitoches, Louisiana-  Outstanding defense and balanced scoring were the differences as New Orleans (6-12, 2-7 Southland) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 67-62 win on the road over Northwestern State (7-12, 2-6 Southland).
 
The Privateers had three players in double figures and two players with 9 points while holding the Lady Demons to 35% from the field on 21-of-60 shooting.
 
"It was a great team effort," said head coach Keeshawn Davenport.  "It was important that we got off to a good start and we did that by scoring 18 points and holding them to a single digit quarter with only 9.  We had to hit first."
 
Senior Shania Woods, New Orleans' leading scorer, led in that department again with 15 points.  Sophomore guard Jada Duncantell had 14 off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.  The Natchitoches native also had 4 assists and 3 steals.  In her fourth start of the season, guard Pebbles Pimpton had a career-high 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.
 
New Orleans led at the half, 29-19.  The largest UNO advantage was a 15-point bulge at the 8:09 mark of the second quarter, 24-9, thanks to back-to-back 3 pointers by Traya Bruce who finished with 9 points and she played all 40 minutes of the contest.  The Privateers outscored the Lady Demons in the period 11-10 however they held Northwestern State scoreless for the first 4:32 of the second.
 
Northwestern outscored New Orleans in the third quarter 22-16.   The period closed with a 45-41 New Orleans lead.  Jasmyn Johnson had 9 points in the period for the Lady Demons and she would finish with a team-high 15.
 
UNO took the final period 22-21 but Northwestern State pulled to within 3 points twice.   A Jasmyn Johnson 3 pointer made it 47-44 UNO with 8:09 to go but a 7-0 UNO run brought the lead back to 10, 54-44.
 
The Lady Demons made one last charge when RaVon Nero canned a 3 pointer to cut the lead to 65-62 with :45 second to go.  Nero, Northwestern State's leading scorer, finished with 15.
 
With :39 seconds to go, Rehema Franklin canned 2 free throws, the final points of the game and the 5-point margin of victory, 67-62.
 
"When we stick to defense and it creates our offense we have a good chance of winning.  We held them to 25% shooting in the first half and 35% in the second half which is pretty good against a team (Northwestern State) that gets better offensively as the game goes on."   Davenport continued, "Despite our 31 turnovers I thought we were poised. And hats off to my coaches for doing a great job of keeping the team uplifted and encouraged."
 
6-5 center Kayla Thomas had 9 points and 8 rebounds for the Privateers.   Whitley Larry had a team-high 11 rebounds and she added to her Southland Conference-leading total of blocked shots with 3 on the night.
 
New Orleans outrebounded the Lady Demons 44-30.
 
  
Up Next
 
 New Orleans returns home, Saturday, February 2 for the second game in a week against Incarnate Word at Lakefront Arena. It's the front end of a doubleheader.   Tipoff is 2 p. m.  The UNO and UIW men's teams will take the floor approximately 45 minutes after the women's contest.
 
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