NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers women's basketball team will close out non-conference play with a pair of contests in Alabama. First, the Privateers travel to Birmingham to face the UAB Blazers on Wednesday at 11 a.m. A contest against Jacksonville State follows on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
New Orleans was last on the court when they lost to Baylor 84-58 on Nov. 29.
Nora Francois poured in 26 points with 20 of them coming in the first half.
Francois won her first Southland Player of the Week award after that performance. She tied a single game career high for three-pointers made with four. Francois is averaging 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game entering the week.
17 days elapsed between the Privateers' last contest in November against Baylor and their first contest of December at UAB. It's the longest non-COVID related gap in games in program history since the 1979-80 season when the Privateers had 22 days in between games against Murray State and Tulane.
Alexis Calderon is closing in on 100 career steals. After having 72 last season, Calderon is at 18 through the first six games this year. She would become the 34th Privateer to reach the century mark in career steals. Michelle Anderson (1980-84) is the program's leader in career steals with 406.
The Privateers have played three times against the UAB Blazers but the teams have not met since 1985. New Orleans is 2-1 in the all-time series.
New Orleans is 1-4 against Jacksonville State. The Privateers' lone win came on the road in November 2016.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UAB head coach Randy Norton recently celebrated his 200
th win at the helm of the Blazers. Coach Norton recently earned a two-year contract extension which was announced on Dec. 10. This season, UAB is 6-3 overall. Maddie Walsh is the team's leading scorer at 12.4 points per game. The Blazers have three players with 19 or more made three-pointers to date.
Jacksonville State (4-5) is looking to snap a four-game losing streak. The Gamecocks have not broken 50 points in that stretch with losses to Missouri, Coastal Carolina, Charleston and Utah Valley. The Gamecocks are averaging nearly four fewer turnovers committed per game than their opponents. Mya Barnes leads the team in scoring at 8.2 points per game.
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