HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will officially open the 2017-18 season this week with a pair of non-conference contests.
 
SLU first-year head coach Ayla Guzzardo's Lady Lions will make their season debut on Friday, hosting Alcorn State at 5 p.m. The SLU-Alcorn matchup will be the opener of a hoops doubleheader in the UC, as the Lions will host Centenary at 7:30 p.m. Fans can bring in one non-perishable food item to receive a discounted ticket for Friday's doubleheader and contribute to Southeastern Athletics' food drive for the holidays.
 
Lady Lion freshmen Caitlyn Williams and Morgan Carrier will be Friday's Spotlight Players of the Game. The first 150 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Southeastern newcomers, courtesy of PRIDE.
 
Following Friday's contest, the Lady Lions will begin a seven-game road swing on Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest at LSU. Both games 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.
 
LionVision subscribers can access a live video stream of Friday's contest at www.LionSports.net/watch. Sunday's game will air live on SEC Network+.
 
In its preseason tune-up, Southeastern ran past LSU Alexandria for a 96-78 exhibition victory last Friday in the University Center. Caitlyn Williams led the way for SLU with 20 points and a game-high 23 rebounds, while preseason All-Southland senior guard Taylin Underwood added 20 points of her own to share game-high honors.
 
Junior guard Jaclyn Scholvin joined Williams and Underwood in double figures with 11 points off the bench, while junior guard Ashailee Brailey, sophomore guard Courtney Dawsey and senior forward Tytiana Hall added nine points apiece. Underwood and Dawsey shared team-high honors with five assists apiece in the exhibition win.
Underwood is the top returnee for the Lady Lions, having earned All-Southland and All-Louisiana honors a season ago after leading the team with 18.6 points per game. The Livingston, Louisiana native needs 33 points to crack the school's career top 15, while also just 19 three-point field goals shy of become the program's standard bearer in that category.
 
Underwood, sophomore guard and reigning LSWA Freshman of the Year Charliee Dugas (10.7 ppg), Brailey (5.8 ppg), sophomore guard Tyler Morrison (4.9 ppg) and Scholvin (3.4 ppg) are the top returning scorers from last season's roster. Carrier, Caitlyn Williams and junior forward Kyla Williams are expected to make immediate impacts for the Lady Lions in their debut seasons, as is junior forward Jyar Francis, who will make her debut at the end of the fall semester.
 
Friday's opponent, Alcorn State returns its top two returning scorers in senior guards Tia Sanders (11.3 ppg) and Alexus Freeman (10.9 ppg) from a 2016-17 team that finished 9-20 overall. Senior forward Miracle Rushing also returns after leading the Lady Braves with 6.6 rebounds per contest a season ago.
 
Friday's contest will mark the sixth meeting between the two teams with SLU holding a 3-2 series advantage. The two teams most recently met in 2012-13 with the Lady Lions earning a 59-54 victory at Alcorn State behind a team-high 17 points from then-junior forward and current Southeastern assistant coach Aja Gibson.
 
LSU opens the 2017-18 regular season with a 4:30 p.m. game at South Florida on Friday before welcoming the Lady Lions for a Sunday matinee. The Tigers are coming off a 20-12 season in which they advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Senior guard Raignye Louis (15.8 ppg) and junior guard Chloe Jackson (13.1 ppg) are the top returners for LSU.
 
The Lady Lions are 12-33 all-time versus their in-state foes. The teams last met during the 2014-15 season with LSU earning a 75-42 victory in Baton Rouge. Then-senior guards Symone Miller (13 points) and Elizabeth Styles (12 points) led the way for Southeastern in the losing effort.
 
After playing their first two games of 2017-18 in the Pelican State, the Lady Lions will play their next three contests in Ohio. The road swing starts with a 6 p.m. (Central) contest at Cincinnati on Wednesday, Nov. 15.