Southeastern secures No. 2 seed in Southland Tournament with 75-46 win at UNO

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women’s basketball team will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s Southland Conference Tournament after a convincing 75-46 victory over New Orleans in the 2020-21 regular season finale for both teams Saturday evening at Lakefront Arena.

SLU (11-7, 10-5 Southland) earned its highest-ever seed in the Southland tournament. The second-seeded Lady Lions will earn a bye to the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals and will open league tournament play on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. Sunday’s championship game is set for 1 p.m. with the winner earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Caitlyn Williams led Southeastern with 18 points, while Daija Harvey connected on all five of her three-point attempts on the way to a 17-point performance. Hailey Giaratano chipped in with 11 points for SLU. Natalie Kelly led SLU with eight rebounds, while Breonca Ducksworth paced Southeastern with five assists and three steals.

Southeastern tied a school record by holding its fifth consecutive opponent to under 50 points, matching a mark that dates back to the program’s debut season on 1974-75. Dionjhae Thomas led UNO with 20 points, while Zoe Cooper pulled down 13 rebounds.

The Lady Lions led 34-22 at the break and put the game out of the reach in the third quarter. Harvey netted a three to end the period, sending SLU into the final stanza with a commanding 53-32 lead.

Southeastern scored the first six points of the final quarter to grow the lead to 61-32 with 8:28 left. New Orleans, which finished the season 6-15 overall and 3-12 in league play, would get no closer than 24 the rest of the way.

The No. 2 seed earned by the Lady Lions bests the previous high seed earned by the 2008-09 squad, which finished 11-5 in league play on the way to a No. 3 seed.

Up Next
Southeastern will await its opponent in the Southland Conference Tournament. All of the first four days’ worth of games will be televised on ESPN+. Sunday’s championship game will air on CBS Sports Network.

Southeastern Louisiana 75 (11-7, 10-5 SLC)
Carrier 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 8-11 2-4 18, Kelly 2-5 3-4 7, Ducksworth 4-9 0-1 8, Giaratano 4-5 2-4 11, Brown 2-7 2-4 7, Cunningham 1-1 2-2 5, Harvey 6-7 0-0 17, Bradford 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 28-49 11-19 75.
New Orleans 48 (6-15, 3-12 SLC)
Cooper 1-1 1-2 3, Cordis 1-3 0-0 2, Deck 0-8 0-0 0, Thomas 5-13 9-11 20, Ellis 3-10 0-0 8, Randle 0-1 0-0 0, Delgado 3-12 1-2 9, Richardson 1-2 0-0 3, Davis 1-6 0-0 3. Totals 15-56 11-15 48.
End of 1st Quarter – SLU 15, UNO 8. Halftime – SLU 34, UNO 22. End of 3rd Quarter – SLU 53, UNO 32. 3-point goals – SLU 8-11 (Harvey 5-5, Giaratano 1-2, Brown 1-2, Cunningham 1-1), UNO 7-24 (Delgado 2-8, Ellis 2-4, Davis 1-4, Thomas 1-2, Richardson 1-1, Deck 0-4). Technical Fouls – None. Fouled Out – None. Rebounds – SLU 41 (Kelly 8), UNO 27 (Cooper 13). Assists – SLU 19 (Ducksworth 5), UNO 11 (Ellis 3). Total Fouls – SLU 18, UNO 15. A – 337.

2020-21 Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament
March 10-14, 2021 – Merrell Center – Katy, Texas

First Round – Wednesday, March 10
11 a.m. – Game 1 – No. 8 Houston Baptist vs. No. 9 McNeese (ESPN+)
2 p.m. – Game 2 – No. 7 Abilene Christian vs. No. 10 UIW (ESPN+)

Second Round – Thursday, March 11
11 a.m. – Game 3 – No. 5 Central Arkansas vs. Game 1 Winner (ESPN+)
2 p.m. – Game 4 – No. 6 Nicholls vs. Game 2 Winner (ESPN+)

Third Round – Friday, March 12
11 a.m. – Game 5 – No. 4 Lamar vs. Game 3 Winner (ESPN+)
2 p.m. – Game 6 – No. 3 Sam Houston vs. Game 4 Winner (ESPN+)

Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
1 p.m. – Game 7 – No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. Game 5 Winner (ESPN+)
4 p.m. – Game 8 – No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana vs. Game 6 Winner (ESPN+)

Championship – Sunday, March 14
1 p.m. – Game 9 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (CBS Sports Network)

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women’s Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on Twitter, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events, effective with the start of football season. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit www.LionSports.net/clear.