HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana forced visiting Mobile into 27 turnovers on the way to a 70-57 women's basketball non-conference victory in the Lady Lions' 2018-19 home opener Monday evening in the University Center.
 
The Lady Lions (1-1) evened their mark thanks to 16 steals and a balanced offense effort, as Charliee Dugas (14 points), Caitlyn Williams (13 points) and Jaclyn Scholvin (10 points) all finished in double figures to help SLU take down the visiting Rams (1-4).
 
"A win is a win and we were pleased with our activity on defense," Southeastern head coach Ayla Guzzardo said. "But we have to clean up a lot of stuff as we move forward. We'll be shooting a lot of layups and free throws at practice tomorrow."
 
In addition to the trio in double figures, Ashailee Brailey and Morgan Carrier chipped in with seven points each. Williams and Tyler Morrison shared game-high honors with nine rebounds, while Kania Lasker-Rouse added eight boards off the bench in her UC debut.
 
Morrison and Scholvin tied for the team lead with four steals apiece, while Brailey was credited with three. Morrison ran the show efficiently for SLU, as the junior from Baton Rouge dished out a game-high seven assists and did not commit a turnover in 31 minutes of action.
 
"We've come to expect this type of effort from Tyler," Guzzardo commented. "Seven assists versus zero turnovers is huge and she does a great job using her length and athleticism to get deflections on the defensive end. As we move forward, we need Tyler to become more of a scoring threat, but we were very pleased with her passing and defense tonight."
 
Mobile was led by Kendra Langham, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Rams. Jordyn York joined Langham in double figures with 11 points on the night.
 
After an early 11-11 tie, Southeastern closed out the first quarter with an 11-2 run to take a 22-13 advantage after the opening period. Mobile countered by holding SLU to 4-for-19 field goal shooting in the second quarter to cut the halftime deficit to 33-26.
 
The Lady Lions were able to pull away in the third quarter. Six different Lady Lions scored in the third period for SLU, which took a 56-40 lead into the final period.
 
A jumper by Dugas pushed the lead up to 62-42 with just under eight minutes left, but Southeastern could never fully pull away, though the Lady Lions led comfortably for the remainder of the game. Mobile got no closer than 11 down the stretch and SLU earned its first victory of 2018-19.
 
Southeastern will next travel to Alcorn State for a 5:30 p.m. non-conference contest on Thursday in Lorman, Mississippi.
 
"We have to be more consistent against Alcorn State," Guzzardo said. "We didn't win every quarter tonight and we want to do that on Thursday. If we have the lulls like we did in the second and fourth quarters against Alcorn, we'll be in for a rough night."
 
TICKET INFORMATION
For ticket information on the upcoming Southeastern women's basketball season, contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.lionsports.net/tickets.
 
SEASON OF GIVING
Southeastern Louisiana Athletics, the Southeastern Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs will hold a food drive throughout the months of November and December. Fans who bring one of the requested items to the University Center (game day only) or the Dugas Center for Southeastern Athletics will receive a voucher for a discounted ticket.
 
All items will be donated to the SLU Food Pantry. Requested items include snack bars, tuna, soup, cereal, pop tarts, macaroni and cheese, cup noodles, pasta, ramen noodles, chili, black beans, red beans, dry beans, peanut butter, jelly, Vienna sausage, rice, instant rice, instant potatoes, microwave meals, fruit cups, mouthwash, shampoo and toothpaste.  
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @SoutheasternWBB 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.