HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team forced 22 turnovers and held Mobile to 25.4 percent field goal shooting on the way to a 67-52 victory in its 2016-17 home opener Wednesday evening in the University Center.
 
The Lady Lions (1-2) earned their first victory of the season and claimed their first win under first-year head coach Errol Gauff. Junior Taylin Underwood led a balanced Southeastern effort with 21 points to get past Mobile (3-0), for which the game counted as an exhibition.
 
Gauff was glad to see his team not only get into the win column, but continue to improve.
 
"We played with good energy and executed well both offensively and defensively tonight," Gauff said. "We had a great team effort and for us to be successful we need contributions from everyone on our roster and we had that tonight.
 
"Any win is a big one, but the first one is sweet because you have to get No. 1 to get No. 2," Gauff added. "We took another step forward and got better as a team."
 
Underwood was joined in double figures by senior Chey Stewart, who tied a career high with 10 points. Junior Bre Warren added nine points for the Lady Lions.
 
Freshman Taz Stinson continues to be a force on the boards for SLU, as she pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Tyler Morrison led the Lady Lions with six assists, while Warren dished out five dimes. Morrison also was credited with four of the Lady Lions' 12 steals.
 
Mobile was led by senior Sydney Westry's 12 points, while freshman Kendra Langham added 10 points off the bench. Senior Alicia Curry led the Lady Rams with 12 rebounds.
 
Southeastern held a narrow 31-29 lead at halftime. Mobile was able to keep in the game at the free throw line, as the Lady Rams made 15-of-18 tries from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes.
 
Southeastern did not start to pull away until the latter part of the third quarter. A jumper by Curry cut the Lady Lion lead to 38-36 with 3:44 left in the period.
 
However, the Lady Lions closed out the quarter with a 9-2 run. A Stewart bucket put Southeastern up, 47-38, heading into the final period.
 
Any hope of a Mobile comeback was ended early in the fourth quarter. Underwood netted a pair of treys to highlight a 10-0 run to open the period, as the Lady Lions grew their lead to 57-38 with seven minutes remaining. The Lady Rams would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way, as Southeastern won its 19^th home opener in its last 20 tries.
 
Southeastern will be off until Tuesday, Nov. 22, when it travels to No. 2 Baylor for a 7 p.m. game in Waco, Texas. Tuesday's game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.