NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans women's basketball team used their strong pressure defense to go on a late rally but it fell just short as the Privateers were knocked off by visiting Louisiana, 65-60 on Thursday evening on #NOLAsTeam Night at the Lakefront Arena.
The squad was led by a double-double from
Whitley Larry as she finished the contest with a season-high 13 points (on 5-of-9 shooting) and 13 rebounds. She also chipped in two steals. The Privateers had two other double-digit scorers in
Rehema Franklin (game-high 15 points, one assist and one steal) and
Asia Woods (11 points, two assists and two steals). Vanquela Pimpton recorded a game-high four assists.
The Privateers trailed the Ragin' Cajuns 55-44 with 4:23 left in the fourth quarter before New Orleans went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to just six with 3:12 left to play. The two sides traded two Louisiana free throws with a New Orleans field goal to keep the Ragin' Cajuns lead at six with 2:25 in the fourth. Two Woods free throws later in the frame would get the Privateers as close as three (58-55 with 1:02 left) before Louisiana would push its lead to eight as just 22 seconds remained. A three-pointer by Woods cut the deficit to 63-60 with seven seconds left but the Ragin' Cajuns were able to hit two free throws to close out the game and its 65-60 victory.
As a team Louisiana hit five clutch free throws over the last minute to seal the road win. It was their seventh consecutive victory over New Orleans.
"That's one of those hard-fought games and we know that we matched up pretty good with Louisiana, almost position for position," head coach
Keeshawn Davenport said. "I didn't think we came out strong. I know that this is a resilient team. They're relentless and amazingly persistent but I like to fight from ahead and not from behind and tonight we found ourselves fighting from behind and we came up a little short."
The teams were even across the board as New Orleans held the lead in fast break points while Louisiana had an edge with points in the paint and second-chance points. Both teams scored 11 off their bench.
"I'm not taking anything away from Louisiana, they're a good team, but I really think that we handed them a game. We still have to do a better job on the free throw line. A few more free throws at the right time could have been a turning point for us. A couple of times we got it to one possession away from tying and had we knocked down those free throws, the momentum and the crowd I felt them. They were getting behind us but we just missed a couple of those crucial baskets.
"Unfortunately we didn't get it done tonight but we'll learn lessons from this." Davenport concluded. "This is still a team that needs to learn when you're high, stay high and when you're low, don't stay low too long, just bounce back. I thought they were relentless in their fight and we'll get back to the drawing board with another Sun Belt opponent next week."
The Privateers will return to the court for a Pre-Thanksgiving Day showdown at Texas State on Wednesday, Nov. 27. Tip off is set for 7 PM CST.
