HOUSTON, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team protected its Southland Conference lead and unbeaten league mark with a historic defensive performance in Saturday's 52-30 league road win over HBU at Sharp Gym.
The 30 points yielded by Southeastern (11-6, 7-0 Southland) against the Huskies (9-9, 5-2 Southland) represented the lowest single game scoring output allowed against a conference opponent in program history. SLU limited HBU, which entered the game in a tie for second place in the league standings, to 26.8 shooting from the floor and forced 20 Husky turnovers.
"We were locked in on our defensive principles and played great defense as a team today," Southeastern head coach
Ayla Guzzardo said. "We were able to get stops as a team and did a nice job filling passing lanes and creating turnovers that led to points."
With the victory, the Lady Lions remained alone atop the Southland Conference standings and extended their best-ever start to conference play. SLU's current seven-game winning streak is the program's longest since the 1994-95 season. Through Feb. 5, Southeastern is one of 11 Division I women's basketball programs still undefeated in conference play this season.
Caitlyn Williams led Southeastern with 14 points and eight rebounds, while
Natalie Kelly contributed 10 points and five boards off the bench. With point guards
Breonca Ducksworth,
Cierria Cunningham and
Alexius Horne all inactive on Saturday,
Hailey Giaratano handled point guard duties and dished out a game-high six assists for the third straight contest.
While the defensive performance that saw SLU hold the Huskies to single digits in three of four quarters was a team effort, several Lady Lions stood out on that end of the floor.
Daija Harvey came off the bench with a game-high five steals, while
Chrissy Brown had three steals of her own to go with a pair of blocked shots.
Julija Vujakovic finished with eight points to lead HBU. N'Denasija Collins chipped in with seven points and six rebounds for the Huskies.
After a defensive struggle that saw SLU hold a slight 10-9 lead after the opening quarter, the Lady Lions were able to open up the game in the second quarter. Southeastern limited HBU to four points in the period and went into the locker room with a 23-13 halftime cushion.
SLU grew the lead to as much as 16 in the third quarter, but the Huskies battled back to head into the final period within striking distance, trailing 34-24. Southeastern ended any hopes of a HBU comeback in the final quarter, converting on 80 percent (8-for-10) of its field goal tries and holding the Huskies to 18.2 percent (2-11) shooting in an 18-6 quarter to nail down the road win.
SLU will return home to host McNeese on Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the University Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN+ and can be heard online at
www.LionSports.net/ListenLive.
Brown and
Kacey Bradford will be Thursday's Spotlight Players of the Game. The first 150 fans at the SLU home game versus the Cowgirls will receive trading cards featuring the Lady Lion juniors, courtesy of PRIDE.
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.
