NEW ORLEANS – Behind a career-high from senior guard
Rehema Franklin, the New Orleans women's basketball team closed out an impressive 79-73 non-conference victory against North Dakota on Saturday morning at the Lakefront Arena.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: New Orleans - 79, North Dakota - 73
LOCATION: Lakefront Arena – New Orleans, La.
RECORDS: New Orleans (4-7/0-2), North Dakota (9-4/0-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Rehema Franklin led New Orleans once again as she scored a career-high 33 points to go with two rebounds and a steal. The talented senior guard has now scored 23 or more points in three of her last four games. It was her sixth double-digit output of the season and the first time a Privateer has scored 30-plus points since program great Randi Brown dropped 36 against Southeastern back on Feb. 28, 2018.
- The Privateers got strong play from their starting forwards as Asia Woods chipped in 11 points, six rebounds, two steals and a block while Whitley Larry recorded four points to go with six boards, two steals and two blocks.
- The group of guards was very good as well as freshman Mary Delgado made the first start of her career and finished with seven points and two assists (with six of those coming in the opening frame). She was 2-of-3 from the field to go with a 3-of-4 mark from the charity stripe. Jada Duncantell added 15 points (including an important run of six straight in the fourth quarter) to go with two steals and two assists. Dionjhae Thomas scored eight and had four rebounds to go with a team-high three steals and three assists.
- The Privateers started the game off fast as they shot 64.3 percent as a team in the opening quarter to jump out to a 21-20 lead after one.
- The hot shooting continued into the second as New Orleans shot just under 50 percent. The squad was able to gain a 15-8 advantage in the quarter as they held North Dakota to just a 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) mark from the field. The strong frame gave the Privateers a 36-28 edge at the half.
- The Fighting Hawks started to battle back in the third and tied the game at 38 with 7:13 left. North Dakota was on top of a 18-15 back and forth affair over the remainder of the quarter to take a 56-53 lead in the fourth. ND recorded a 28-17 edge in the third.
- After the first minute of play in the fourth, North Dakota still held a two-point advantage, 59-57. The Privateers closed with a 22-14 edge to record the 79-73 win.
- New Orleans recorded its second-best shooting performance so far this year as the team finished with a 51.9 percent mark from the field. It was the best posted against a NCAA Division I program.
- It was a battle of the bench as North Dakota posted 59 points from its second unit and New Orleans scored 49, with 33 of those coming from Franklin.
- The Privateers led in points off turnovers by a 24-17 margin. New Orleans forced 25 turnovers and recorded 11 steals.
- It was a tightly contested game throughout as the matchup featured six lead changes and seven ties. New Orleans did have the advantage for almost 33 minutes of the contest, however.
FOR THE FOES
- Olivia Lane and Megan Zander provided over 53 percent of the offense by themselves as the two posted 21 and 18 points, respectively. Lane picked up a double-double as she had a game-high 10 rebounds. Zander finished with seven boards of her own to go with two steals.
- Kacie Borowicz ran an effective point with 11 points and eight assists.
NOTEWORTHY
- With her 16th block of the season early in the first quarter, Larry moved into ninth-place all-time in school history in career rejections with 99. She is just the eighth Privateer to reach the 100 block milestone in program history after her two blocks today.
- North Dakota was off to its best start in its NCAA Division I history. The talented group received votes in the last four College Basketball Insider Mid-Major Top-25 Coaches Poll.
COACHES CORNER with KEESHAWN DAVENPORT
"It was defiently a total team effort and I changed up the lineup a little bit because we needed to get off to a better start. I'm going to start with Mary, the freshman point guard who started for us today, who really helped set the tempo. I think it really sparked Jada, coming off the bench and watching a freshman do what she did. I think it gave her confidence when she came in the game to see her driving range and be able to be as aggressive on the offensive end like she was. I would be remiss if I did not mention Rehema. I think I needed to wake her up a little bit. She's my little lion out there and she is one that is going to give all she's got on every play. I didn't start her today to wake her back up and get her back into her ways of hustling and boy was that a wake up call because she exploded. We stayed in it today as a team and I'm proud that we're ending 2019 with a win."
NEXT UP
The Privateers return to conference play with a Southland showdown to kick off the New Year at Lamar on Thursday, Jan. 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 PM CST at the Montagne Event Center in Beaumont, Texas.
