HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will officially open its 2019-20 season on Saturday, facing Houston at 1 p.m. in the Fertitta Center.
 
Saturday's season opener will be the first of five straight road non-conference contests for the Lady Lions (0-0) to open the campaign. Houston (0-1) will be offering live video and live stats, which will be accessible on the women's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
 
The Lady Lions saw their first on-court action on Monday, rolling to a 103-47 exhibition victory over Southern-New Orleans. Five SLU players scored in double figures, as Southeastern forced 30 turnovers and scored 33 points off Lady Knight miscues.
 
SLU third-year head coach Ayla Guzzardo was pleased with the balance and depth displayed by her young team on Monday, but also saw room for improvement heading into the season opener.
 
"We did a nice job in transition and forcing turnovers (versus SUNO)," Guzzardo commented. "But we have to take care of the ball better and eliminate the unforced turnovers. We need to continue to focus on boxing out more consistently. We just have to do the little things better."
 
All 12 Lady Lions that played scored in a balanced effort in Monday's win. Southeastern topped the century mark in an efficient manner, as SLU connected on 50.0 percent (36-for-72) of its field goal attempts.
 
Returning All-Southland performer Celica Sterling led SLU with 17 points and was joined in double figures by Morgan Carrier (13 points), Breonca Ducksworth (12), Alexius Horne (12) and Jaylen Huderson (12). Sterling (5-for-8), Carrier (3-for-3) and Hailey Giaratano (2-for-3) all hit multiple three-point field goals, as SLU tore up the nets with a 13-for-26 shooting performance from behind the arc.
 
Horne led SLU with five assists, while Carrier and Breonca Ducksworth each dished out four dimes. The Lady Lions won the rebounding battle, 45-31, as Giaratano and Horne grabbed a team-high seven rebounds each.
 
The Lady Lions finished the night with 15 steals, as Horne and Jyar Francis recorded three each. Francis, back on the court for the first time since Jan. 20, 2018, also blocked a pair of shots to fuel a stout SLU defensive effort that limited SUNO to 31.3 percent (15-for-48) shooting from the field.
 
Houston is looking for its first win of 2019-20 and will be opening the home portion of its schedule. The Cougars were held to a 31.3 percent (15-for-48) success rate from the field and were outrebounded, 53-26, in a 69-38 loss to Georgia Tech on Tuesday in Atlanta.
 
Tatyana Hill was the top performer for UH in Tuesday's loss. She finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four steals versus the Yellow Jackets.  
 
The Cougars have won all seven meetings between the two schools in a series that dates back to the 1980-81 season. The two teams last met in the 2016-17 season, when Houston held off a SLU upset bid in an 83-80 victory.
 
"Houston is a much different team than we played three years ago," Guzzardo commented. "They're very athletic, but we feel like we match up with them well depth-wise.
 
"A couple of our veterans are banged up heading into the game," Guzzardo continued. "We'll have to have some newcomers step up into bigger roles right away. Hopefully, we've got the first game jitters out of the way on Monday and we're looking forward to a very competitive game on Saturday."
 
Southeastern is 21-24 all-time in season openers. The Lady Lions last opened the season with a win in 2013-14.
 
Up Next
Southeastern will continue its season-opening road swing at Southern Miss on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The contest can be heard on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the Lions Game Day Experience and TuneIn Radio apps.
 
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.
 
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.