Privateers hold strong in pivotal moments, top South Alabama behind Pryor’s career-high 29

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers (1-1) withstood several rallies from the South Alabama Jaguars (1-2) and persevered in a 71-63 victory on Monday night at the Lakefront Arena. DeArica Pryor scored a career-high 29 points to lead the offensive charge for the Privateers which got out to a hot start.

HOW IT HAPPENED
UNO’s aggressive defense forced South Alabama into 17 first half turnovers. Meanwhile, New Orleans overcame a scoreless first 2:51 when Pryor got the home squad on the board. From there, the Privateers blitzed to a 20-8 lead early in the second quarter.

South Alabama started coming back with the three-pointer as they sank 3-of-5 triples in the quarter. The Privateer lead was cut to as small as two points on two different occasions in the first half. New Orleans managed to gain a little more separation before the half as they outscored South Alabama 8-3 over the final 3:52 to take a 32-25 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, South Alabama closed the Privateer lead to three on four different occasions. However, every time New Orleans had an answer. The last occasion was when Kelsey Thompson hit two free throws with 52 seconds left to put the score at 64-61.

New Orleans from there was clutch at the free throw line, hitting their next six trips to the charity stripe to hold on to their second win in the last three seasons against the Sun Belt foes from Mobile.

For the game, New Orleans shot 44.1 percent and forced 22 turnovers. The Privateers also had a 17-11 advantage in fast break points. Though it was a single-digit game throughout most of the night, the Privateers led for over 37 minutes.

INSIDE THE BOX
Pryor added three rebounds and two steals to her career-high scoring effort on the night. Nora Francois was just shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Justice Ross also added nine rebounds and a team-high five assists.

Tara Green finished with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Tiana Gipson added eight points.

South Alabama had three in double figures led by Kiana Anderson’s 14 points. Nadia Howard and Casey Ferguson each added 13 points.

NEXT UP
The Privateers will travel to Grambling to face the Tigers on Friday at 6 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow @PrivateersWBB on Twitter, @PrivateersWBB on Instagram, and like /PrivateersWBB on Facebook.