NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers women's basketball team will play two critical games in their fight to make the Southland Tournament. The Privateers host Nicholls on Thursday and travel to Lamar on Saturday. The games are slated for 5 and 3 p.m. respectively.
New Orleans will hold Senior Night festivities prior to Thursday's contest.
Nahja Scott,
Justice Ross and
Tiana Gipson will all be honored before the game for their accomplishments at the University of New Orleans.
Gipson has played in 40 games with 22 starts and had a career-high 18 points last season at UIW. Ross is top 10 in the Southland in assists and blocks. Scott is one of four Privateers with over 30 offensive rebounds this season.
The Privateers are one game behind HCU and McNeese who hold the last two spots in the tournament with three games remaining.
The second half of games was great to New Orleans offensively. They scored a total of 98 points in the third and fourth quarter against Texas A&M-Commerce and Northwestern State. In that stretch, New Orleans shot 50.7 percent from the field (32-for-63).
DeArica Pryor is now the leading scorer in the Southland. Pryor is averaging 15.0 points per game and she scored 27 last Saturday against Northwestern State. Pryor has outright led the team in scoring for eight consecutive games. She also continues to lead the Southland in steals at 2.7 per game.
The first meeting against Nicholls saw several categories that stood out. New Orleans' 83 points was a season-high. They also finished with 51 rebounds (second most this season) and 18 assists (tied for second most this season).
New Orleans also defeated Lamar in the first meeting by a score of 60-46. The Privateers held Lamar to five points in the first quarter and 30.8 percent from the field for the game.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Nicholls is the only team eliminated from contention for making the Southland Tournament. The Colonels are 1-14 in conference play and have lost 11 straight. Lexi Alexander is third in the Southland in scoring at 14.1 points per game and fifth in blocks at 1.1 per game.
Lamar has caught fire of late as they have won six straight entering the week. Portia Adams is the latest Southland Player of the Week. Adams had a career-high 32 points in one of two wins against HCU last week.
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