2021-22 Women's Basketball Season Preview

The New Orleans Privateers women's basketball team heads into the season with a bevy of newcomers and renewed optimism as they tip off the season by starting a Homecoming doubleheader against the West Alabama Tigers on Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
NEW FACES ON THE LAKEFRONT
Coach Keeshawn Davenport and her staff hit the transfer portal hard with seven of the eight newcomers coming from previous colleges. Of those seven student-athletes, four were most recently at Division I programs.
 
DeArica Pryor competed for two seasons at Creighton and appeared in 22 total games last season (five postseason). Pryor is one of two Iowa natives new to the roster and was just the second student-athlete in her high school's history to reach 1,000 career points.
 
Jomyra Mathis has the most Division I experience coming in after playing the previous four seasons at Louisiana. Mathis suited up in 93 games and started 47. She averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in her last season in Lafayette.
 
Justice Ross was one of the top 40 wing players coming out of high school at Des Moines East when she originally signed with Minnesota. Jayla Kimbrough came from Austin Peay where she redshirted last season due to injury. Kimbrough averaged 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists at Southwest DeKalb HS.
 
Majegane Barry, Dyana Offutt and Nahja Scott all come from the junior college ranks. Scott finished top ten in her conference in field goal percentage. Barry averaged 8.0 rebounds per game at Bossier Parish. Offutt started 11 games last season at South Plains College.
 
WELCOME BACK
Brianna Ellis is the leading returning scorer for the Privateers after finishing with 5.4 points per game in her debut season on the Lakefront. The Privateers also return their leader in total rebounds (Erin Randle) and offensive rebounds (Zoe Cooper).
 
Randle picked up her first career double-double last season in a win for New Orleans against South Alabama. Ellis had double-digit scoring outputs against Missouri and UIW in her first season with the Privateers.
 
Kyla Davis set a new career-high against Northwestern State. That night, the true freshman went for 18 points and hit five triples. Zanaa Cordis played in 20 games with seven starts last season and averaged nearly a block per game.
 
Also returning to the team this season are Tiana Gipson, Jacqueline Dianis and Caleigh-Rose West. Gipson and West redshirted in the 2020-21 season.
 
THE ROAD AHEAD
A challenging non-conference schedule sees the Privateers travel to three SEC schools: LSU, Ole Miss and Auburn. The trip to Ole Miss will be the first since the Privateers defeated the Rebels in November 2019.
 
New Orleans will also face two Big 12 schools when they take on perennial national power, Baylor and Texas. The matchup against Baylor will be the first for the Privateers since 1994.
 
The Privateers will also have games against South Alabama, Louisiana, Alcorn State and Grambling in non-conference before heading to Southland play.
 
The Southland slate begins with the Southland Tip-Off in Katy when they take on Northwestern State on Jan.3. The conference tournament will take place starting Mar. 10 at the Merrell Center.
 
FROM COACH DAVENPORT
-I'm excited about our newcomers and that's inclusive of our lone freshman and New Orleans' own Tomyree Thompson. I don't care what level you played on, to score 2,000 points in your career is special.
 
-Our JUCO transfers that I brought in they meet immediate needs especially in the post with Nahja and Maj who will bring a level of intensity and rebounding. When you hit the transfer portal and we talk They have brought that competitiveness to our practices and that has raised our level of play.
 
-What Jomyra brings to the team is not just what she does on the court but she's a great student off the court. She sets the example for our team and she's bringing a championship mentality fresh off a Sun Belt title. She's bringing a championship mentality in the classroom as well and she has challenged our girls on what it looks like to work hard on the court and in the classroom.
 
-It's always great to see the transition from freshman to sophomore year especially for these freshmen considering they played a lot of minutes. Zanaa, Erin and Zoe came in and they didn't have any post players with experience in front of them. They got a lot of playing time and to see their growth is really encouraging.
 
-Brianna always works extremely hard and she competed last year in that position and now she's taken the bull by the horns. And she's still competing every day. Kyla, everybody knows her to be a very good shooter but she's been intentional on bettering her defense.
 
-We still have to work the old with the new and our team chemistry but when we really get it I think we're going to be a force to be reckoned with.
 
-What this type of schedule does is it's the hardest non-conference schedule in my 11 years of coaching but I also don't believe in having a fluff schedule. They're going to be challenged earlier which will help us later in the season in understanding how to overcome tough moments.
 
-The focus is always on us and what we need to do to get better every day. I've asked them this whole preseason to get one percent better each day. It's about us understanding the philosophy of our program and how to execute on both ends of the floor.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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