HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team continued its unbeaten start to Southland Conference play, riding a dominant second half effort to a 76-49 win over UIW Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
SLU (9-6, 5-0 Southland) led by 11 at the half, but broke open the game by outscoring the visiting Cardinals (5-11, 1-4 Southland), 38-22, in the second half. Nine different Lady Lions scored and Southeastern tallied 27 points off 21 UIW turnovers to continue its unprecedented hot start to conference play. Prior to this season, SLU had never started Southland play with more than two victories in a row.
"We knew we were going to get their best shot in the third quarter," Southeastern head coach
Ayla Guzzardo said. "Our players did an excellent job of locking in after halftime and doing what we needed them to do to get a victory."
Southeastern once again had a balanced effort on the offensive end.
Morgan Carrier and
Caitlyn Williams shared game-high honors with 16 points apiece.
Taylor Bell gave SLU a trio in double figures with 14 points, while Williams (seven rebounds) helped the Lady Lions finish the game with a 34-25 rebounding advantage.
Hailey Giaratano filled up the stat sheet on both ends for Southeastern. With
Cierria Cunningham and
Breonca Ducksworth both out injured, Giaratano had to share point guard duties with
Alexius Horne. The Ponchatoula, Louisiana native responded by matching a career high with six assists and keying the Lady Lion defense with a career-high five steals.
"Hailey can play any position for us and knew she was going to have to give us some minutes at the point tonight," Guzzardo commented. "She's one of our smartest players and a lot of times our offense runs through her, so we knew we could count on her to get the job done.
"That's what makes this team so exciting to coach," Guzzardo added. "We're deep enough to have people step up when we're missing someone. We don't count on just one or two players for all of our production."
Hanna Wheeler led UIW with 12 points, while Southland scoring leader Jaaucklyn Moore finished with 10 points for the Lady Cardinals.
Southeastern maintained an 18-16 lead after the opening quarter. The Lady Lions were able to grow their advantage in the second quarter, as Bell sunk a 30-footer at the buzzer to send SLU into the break with a 38-27 advantage.
Southeastern stretched the lead to 18 early in the third quarter, but UIW answered with seven straight points to cut the lead to 50-39 on a Jaaucklyn Moore bucket with 3:45 left in the quarter. However, the Lady Lions closed the quarter with a 9-0 run with Giaratano's buzzer beater sending SLU into the final period with a commanding 59-39 advantage.
The run would extend to 18 straight points for Southeastern, as the Lady Lions scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to take a 68-39 advantage with 7:34 left. The lead would grow to as many as 30 and UIW would get no closer than 27 the rest of the way.
Southeastern will return to action on Thursday, traveling to McNeese for a 5 p.m. contest in Lake Charles. The game can be heard online at
www.LionSports.net/ListenLive.
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. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
