HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will continue non-conference play on Thursday, when they host Spring Hill at 7 p.m. in the University Center.

After sweeping a home-and-home series with Louisiana-Lafayette, the Lady Lions enter Thursday's game with the visiting Lady Badgers (1-7) with a 4-5 overall record. A win in Thursday's contest, which will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM and on the Internet at www.LionSports.net, would put Southeastern back at .500 for the first time since early in the season.

The first 150 fans at Thursday's game will receive a trading card featuring sophomore guard Amber Crenshaw courtesy of the Southeastern PRIDE (Positive Role models Involved in the Development of Excellence). Live stats for the contest will also be available at www.LionSports.net.

Southeastern is coming off its first road win of the season last Saturday, as the Lady Lions shot 56.3 percent from the floor in a 72-61 win over UL-Lafayette. Senior post Zevy Ivory earned Southland Conference Player of the Week honors after posting 17 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, while also hitting 62.5 percent of her field goal attempts and five of five attempts from the free throw line.

Ivory paced a balanced Southeastern attack that featured four players scoring in double figures. Freshman guard Erica Burgess, senior guard Kim Edmonson and senior wing Quantae Thomas scored 11 points each in the win. Sophomore guard Kelli Jenkins dished out six assists, while Thomas pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and junior center Rachel Mackie grabbed seven boards.

With the win, Southeastern improved to 4-0 in games it scores 60 points or more. For the season, the Lady Lions are averaging 60.1 points per game. Thomas is the team's leading scorer with 11.6 points per game, followed by Edmonson (9.7 ppg), Kelli Jenkins (8.0), Ivory (7.4) and junior forward Rashima Jenkins (6.6). Kelli Jenkins has helped set up the scorers, averaging a team-high 4.2 assists per game – good for second in the Southland Conference.

While not quite on pace to match last season's Southland Conference record 220 three-point field goals, the Lady Lions have still been prolific from behind the arc, averaging 6.0 triples per game. Thomas and Edmonson are tied for fifth on the Southland Conference leader board with 1.8 three-point field goals per game, while junior guard Chelsea Hix has hit 1.0 trey per outing.

Southeastern, which led the Southland in rebounding margin a season ago, is out-rebounding opponents by an average of 4.0 per game. Ivory leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game, followed by Thomas (5.9 rpg), Rashima Jenkins (4.6), Mackie (3.9) and Edmonson (3.7).

Defensively, the Lady Lions have held opponents to 61.3 points per game and forced 19.4 turnovers per contest. Kelli Jenkins leads the team with 1.4 steals per game, while Burgess and Hix both average just over a steal per contest.

Ivory leads the team and ranks just outside of the Southland top 10 with 0.8 blocked shots per game. Junior center Kasia Gawor has contributed 0.7 blocks per contest.

With her seven blocked shots on the season, Ivory ranks in a tie for seventh place with former Lady Lions Nakeya Downing and Lindsey Prewitt for seventh in school history with 64 career blocked shots. She's not the only current Lady Lion making waves in the school's career top 10, as Hix ranks among the school's all-time leaders with 76 three-point field goals (eighth) and a .362 three-point field goal percentage (sixth). Edmonson – already ranked 10th in school history with 210 three-point field goal attempts – need four three-point field goals to crank the program's top 10 in that category.

Southeastern will be facing a Spring Hill team that opened the season with a six-game losing streak before defeating Concordia-Selma on Dec. 4. In their most recent game, the Lady Badgers fell to Shorter College, 86-58, on Sunday in Mobile, Ala. The Lady Badgers compete in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference of NAIA. Southeastern defeated one of their conference rivals on Nov. 16, rolling past William Carey, 86-45.

In the loss to Shorter, Spring Hill was victimized by 22 turnovers. Junior center Kimarie Bock led SHC with 20 points, while senior guard Robynetta Hargrave and junior guard Kristy Ybarra pitched in 10 and nine points, respectively.

Hammond native and St. Thomas Aquinas product Lynleigh Hughes, a junior forward for the Lady Badgers, pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while Hargrave and freshman guard Kristin Rogers dished out four assists each. Hargrave also paced the defensive effort with five steals, while Rogers blocked two shots.

SHC averages 57.0 points and 23.0 turnovers per game. Bock leads the team with 17.3 points per game, while Rogers is averaging 9.8 points per game and also leads the team with 2.6 assists per game. Led by Hargrave (5.8 rebounds per game) and Hughes (5.4 rpg), the Lady Badgers are averaging 37.5 rebounds per outing and have been outrebounded by 7.0 boards per contest.

Opponents are averaging 79.1 points per game and shooting just under 47 percent from the field versus the Lady Badgers. Bock leads the team with 1.3 blocks per contest, while Hargrave tops the team with a 1.3 steal per game average.

Southeastern is 3-2 all-time versus Spring Hill. The two teams have not met since the 1988-89 season, which saw the Lady Lions open the campaign with a 91-61 rout of Spring Hill. Current Southeastern head coach Lori Davis Jones was a sophomore forward on that Southeastern squad and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds in the victory.

Following Thursday's game, Southeastern will take a short break before returning home to host Millsaps on Saturday at 3 p.m. Saturday's game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the Internet at www.LionSports.net. The first 150 fans will receive a trading card featuring sophomore guard Gabrielle George courtesy of the Southeastern PRIDE.

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