2020 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana (12-17) vs. No. 5 New Orleans (17-12) – First Round
Thursday, March 11, 2020 | 11 a.m. | Katy, Texas | Merrell Center (7,200)
Series History: UNO leads 27-22
Last Meeting: New Orleans 58, Southeastern Louisiana 47 (March 7, 2020 – New Orleans, La.)
Television: ESPN+
            Announcers: John Liddle and Van Chancellor
Radio: KSLU-FM (90.9)
            Announcer: Kemmler Chapple
Live Video
Live Audio
Live Stats

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team has made its way back to the postseason.
 
The Lady Lions (12-17) will be returning to the 2020 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas for the first time since the 2011-12 season. No. 8 seed SLU opens up tournament play on Thursday, facing No. 5 UNO (17-12) at 11 a.m. in first-round action.
 
The SLU-UNO winner will advance to face No. 4 Sam Houston State in Friday's 11 a.m. quarterfinals. The winner of that game moves on take on No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. Sunday's championship game will also tip-off at 1 p.m. with the winner earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
The first three rounds of the tournament will be televised on ESPN+. Sunday's championship game will air on CBS Sports Network. All of SLU's tournament contests will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio and Lions Gameday Experience apps.
 
The SLU Athletics Ticket Office has tickets available for the Southland Conference Tournament. Southeastern is selling all-tournament books that includes tickets for all men's and women's tournament sessions for $60. Single-session tickets are on sale for $20.
 
Tickets can be picked up at the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office through Wednesday. Fans who would like to pick up their tickets at the Merrell Center will-call must purchase by Tuesday. The SLU Athletics Ticket Office is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and can be reached at (985) 549-5466.
 
SLU fans who purchase tickets on game day at the Merrell Center are encouraged to visit the Southeastern Athletics window at the tournament site.
 
Southeastern will need to get its offense back on track heading into postseason play. SLU's final two regular season contests saw the Lady Lions produce their lowest scoring outputs of the season.
 
Third team All-Southland Conference guard Celica Sterling, who is seventh in the Southland with 13.8 points per game, will be key to the team's offensive resurgence. Jyar Francis (9.4 ppg), Morgan Carrier (8.1 ppg), Caitlyn Williams (7.6 ppg) and Charliee Dugas (7.1 ppg) are the other top scorers for SLU. Dugas became the 21^st player in program history to reach 1,000 career points last month and enters the tournament with 1,023 points.
 
Southland Freshman of the Year Alexius Horne is third in the Southland with 3.8 assists per game, but suffered a season-ending injury in an 87-48 win over McNeese on Feb. 26. Tyler Morrison, who is eighth in school history with 280 career assists, has taken over point guard duties for Horne.
 
The Lady Lions have connected on 176 three-point field goals in 2019-20, as Sterling (2.1, 5^th) and Carrier (1.6, 15^th) rank among the Southland leaders in three-point field goals per game. In her two seasons in Hammond, Sterling has climbed the program's career leaderboard in three-point field goals made (128, 5^th) and attempted (345, 6^th), as well as three-point field goal percentage (37.1, 4^th).
 
Southeastern's rebounding performance has steadily improved as the season progressed, as they have lessened their rebounding margin to -2.3. Williams, who ripped down a career-high 17 boards in Saturday's regular season finale, has been a large part of that and is seventh in the league with 6.9 rebounds per game. The Brusly native has moved up to 11^th in program history with 585 career rebounds.
 
Defensively, Southeastern has held opponents to under 60 points 14 times and under 50 points six times this season. Foes are averaging 61.9 points and 16.9 turnovers per game versus the Lady Lions.
 
Williams is ninth in the league with 1.1 blocked shots per game and her 76 career blocked shots are good for seventh in school history. Morrison (152, 8^th) and Dugas (150, 9^th) are both among the program's career steal leaders.
 
UNO enters the postseason having won five of its last seven games. The Privateers are led by the third team All-Southland Conference duo of Rehema Franklin and Asia Woods.
 
Franklin is sixth in the Southland in scoring with 14.1 points per game, while Woods joins her in double figure scoring (11.5 ppg) and is fourth in the league with 7.7 rebounds per game. Whitley Larry teams with Woods to give New Orleans a productive post tandem, as she is among the league leaders in rebounding (6.9, 8^th) and blocked shots (1.7, 2^nd).
 
Southeastern is 22-27 versus its in-state conference rival. The Lady Lions and Privateers split during the regular season with each team winning on their respective home courts. 
 
Back on Feb. 1, SLU earned a 73-57 win over New Orleans in the University Center. Francis and Carrier had 19 points apiece to lead the Lady Lions, while Williams narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Woods led UNO with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Dionjhae Thomas chipped in 12 points in the Privateer loss.
 
Southeastern could not overcome a 22-8 first quarter deficit and was held to just three points in the third quarter in a 58-47 loss at UNO in the March 7 season finale. Williams led SLU with 11 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, while Sterling chipped in with 11 points. Franklin led UNO with 24 points and made six-of-seven three-point field goals, while Thomas added 10 points.
 
Southeastern is making its 10^th all-time appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament, where they have a 1-9 all-time record. The Lady Lions' lone Southland Tournament win was a 66-63 first-round victory at then-league member UTSA in the 2001-02 season.
 
2020 Hercules Tires Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
 
Thursday, March 12 – First Round
Game 1 – No. 5 New Orleans vs. No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana, 11 a.m. (ESPN+) (KSLU)
Game 2 – No. 6 Nicholls vs. No. 7 UIW, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
 
Friday, March 13 – Quarterfinals
11 a.m. - Game 3 - No. 4 Sam Houston State vs. Winner Game 1 (ESPN+)
1:30 p.m. - Game 4 - No. 3 Abilene Christian vs. Winner Game 2 (ESPN+)
 
Saturday, March 14 – Semifinals
1 p.m.- Game 5 - No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Winner Game 3 (ESPN+)
3:30 p.m. - Game 6 - No. 2 Stephen F. Austin vs. Winner Game 4 (ESPN+)
Championship – Sunday, March 15, 2020
1 p.m. - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 (CBS Sports Network)

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.