HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team is hard at work preparing for the tip-off of the 2020-21 campaign in just over a month.
 
The Lady Lions returned to the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season last year, but the remainder of the basketball season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic moments before SLU tipped off in its first-round contest.
 
If Southeastern is to make another postseason run in 2020-21, it'll have to do so with a new cast of characters and several returners having to step into a bigger role. The Lady Lions will be replacing five seniors from last year's team – all who played significant minutes.
 
2019-20 Southland Freshman of the Year Alexius Horne (9.5 ppg, 3.7 apg), Morgan Carrier (8.1 ppg) and Caitlyn Williams (7.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg) are returning starters for the Lady Lions. Southeastern fourth-year head coach Ayla Guzzardo also expects returners Breonca Ducksworth, Hailey Giaratano, Daija Harvey, Jaylen Huderson and Bren'naisa Adams to contribute in increased roles.
 
Southeastern has added five newcomers to this year's roster in guards Cierria Cunningham, Chrissy Brown and Bryana Langford, as well as post players Kacey Bradford and Natalie Kelly. Cunningham, Brown, Langford and Bradford all come to Hammond out of the junior college ranks. Kelly, an Albany native who started her collegiate career at Auburn, will have to sit out the 2020-21 season due to transfer rules.
 
"We're competing hard for playing time every day," Guzzardo commented. "We lost a lot of key players from last year's team, so our returners know there's availability for playing time. We're excited to see the growth in some of our returners and all of our newcomers have come in and fit in exceptionally well."
 
Any team that loses five seniors will have to fill a void in leadership. The Lady Lions took the first step towards filling that void when the team elected Giaratano, Brown and Kelly as the 2020-21 captains.
 
"Our team has certain expectations and those three have done the best job of meeting those expectations," Guzzardo commented. "None of them would be considered our most vocal player, but they instead lead by example by the way they handle themselves on and off the court. Our players and coaches all voted on the captains and these three are very deserving. They stepped up and want to be leaders and will fill big roles for us this season."
 
Guzzardo didn't hesitate when asked what the strength of her team is.
 
"This team's strength is its toughness," Guzzardo said. "This group is going to fight for everything and won't get pushed around. They've proven to be mentally and physically tough. When we faced uncertainty about when our season would start, nobody complained and we've learned to adapt to whatever's thrown at us quickly. We're hungry and anxious to play."
 
Depth and versatility will be key to the Lady Lions' quest for success in 2020-21.
 
"We're dealing with a couple of injuries, so we've asked some players to take on different roles," Guzzardo said. "For example, Hailey (Giaratano) has played every position from point guard to the five during the preseason, which is a difficult task. She hasn't complained once and understands her role on the team. Our players are going to have be flexible in terms of the different positions we ask them to play."
 
Southeastern will open the 2020-21 season by hosting Alcorn State on Nov. 25 in the University Center. The Lady Lions will open Southland Conference play on Jan. 2, welcoming Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to Hammond. The full 2020-21 schedule will be announced in the coming days.  
 
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.