Southeastern oowers to 72-48 win at New Orleans in Southland road opener

NEW ORLEANS – The Southeastern Louisiana University women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 in Southland Conference play Thursday evening with a 72-48 victory over New Orleans at Lakefront Arena.

Southeastern (6-6, 2-0 Southland) opened its league road slate with a convincing victory, shaking off an early 7-0 lead for the host Privateers (1-8, 0-2 Southland). SLU is off to a 2-0 start to league play for the second straight season after not accomplishing back-to-back wins to start conference action for its first 23 seasons of Southland Conference membership.

The Lady Lions featured a balanced effort, as 11 different players scored in Thursday’s win over UNO. Caitlyn Williams finished with a game-high 15 points, while Morgan Davis added 10 points off the bench for the Lady Lions. Alexius Horne and Breonca Ducksworth chipped in with nine points each, while Ducksworth and Cierria Cunningham finished with four assists apiece to lead Southeastern.

“We’re playing a lot of different people and they’re all being productive,” Southeastern head coach Ayla Guzzardo said. “What’s exciting is that we go into to every game not knowing who our best player and leading scorer is going to be. If someone’s having an off night, we know that someone’s going to come in and pick up the slack.”

Williams and Davis led a punishing performance inside by the Lady Lion posts, as SLU finished with a 50-14 advantage in points in the paint. Southeastern has outscored its first two Southland opponents, 112-34, in the paint. Kelly (eight rebounds) and Williams (six rebounds) helped the Lady Lions to a 44-34 advantage on the glass.

“We’ve had some struggles shooting from the outside, so we’ve been concentrating on scoring inside,” Guzzardo commented. “Our success inside is going to help our shooters have more space and more time to shoot moving forward. We’re very proud of our posts and the way they battle every time out.”

Southeastern held New Orleans to 32.7 percent (17-for-52) shooting from the field and forced the Privateers into 20 turnovers. Horne, Ducksworth and Chrissy Brown each had two steals for SLU, while Williams, Horne, Davis and Hailey Giaratano were all credited with blocked shots.

New Orleans scored the game’s first seven points, but Southeastern answered with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. The Lady Lions led by four after the opening period and doubled that advantage in the second quarter, heading into halftime with a 32-24 advantage.

UNO, which saw Kyla Davis and DeArica Pryor share team-high honors with 13 points, didn’t allow SLU to break the game open until early in the fourth quarter.

SLU’s Davis scored three straight buckets to ignite a 13-0 run that Daija Harvey capped with Southeastern’s lone three of the contest. Harvey’s trey gave the Lady Lions a 63-37 advantage with 8:01 left and ended any hopes of a Privateer rally. UNO would get no closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Southeastern will return to action on Saturday, traveling to Nicholls for a 1 p.m. contest in Thibodaux. Saturday’s game will be televised on ESPN+ and can be heard live online at www.LionSports.net/ListenLive.

Southeastern 72 (6-6, 2-0 SLC)
Carrier 1-6 0-1 2, Williams 6-9 3-4 15, Cunningham 2-3 0-2 4, Horne 4-9 1-3 9, Giaratano 1-4 2-2 4, Bell 1-2 2-5 4, Brown 2-4 2-2 6, Harvey 1-6 0-0 3, Ducksworth 4-5 1-2 9, Kelly 2-6 2-6 6, Davis 4-6 2-2 10, Brumfield 0-0 0-0 0, Bradford 0-0 0-0 0, Flowers 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 15-29 72.
New Orleans 48 (1-8, 0-2 SLC)
Cooper 2-3 0-0 4, Cordis 0-1 0-0 0, Gipson 3-7 0-2 8, Davis 5-13 0-2 13, Pryor 5-10 2-2 13, Scott 0-4 0-0 0, Thompson 1-8 4-8 6, Barry 0-2 1-2 1, Offutt 1-1 0-0 3, Dianis 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 17-52 7-16 48.
End of 1st Quarter – SLU 18, UNO 14. Halftime – SLU 32, UNO 24. End of 3rd Quarter – SLU 54, UNO 37. 3-point goals – SLU 1-10 (Harvey 1-5, Carrier 0-1, Williams 0-1, Giaratano 0-1, Brown 0-1, Flowers 0-1), UNO 7-23 (Davis 3-10, Gipson 2-6, Offutt 1-1, Pryor 1-1, Dianis 0-3, Scott 0-1, Thompson 0-1). Technical Fouls – Carrier. Fouled Out – Cooper, Cordis, Scott. Rebounds – SLU 44 (Kelly 8), UNO 34 (Three with 6). Assists – SLU 17 (Cunningham, Ducksworth 4), UNO 11 (Pryor 4). Total Fouls – SLU 19, UNO 26. A – 654.

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