HAMMOND, La – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team will look to secure the first Southland Conference championship in school history when the Lady Lions close out the 2022-23 regular season at HCU Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Sharp Gym.
 
Wednesday's game between the Lady Lions (18-9, 13-4 Southland) and the host Huskies (11-17, 6-12 SLC) will air on ESPN+ and live stats, provided by the hosts, will be accessible via the women's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
 
Following Saturday's 67-50 win over McNeese, Southeastern is tied atop the Southland Conference with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which plays at Texas A&M-Commerce Wednesday. The Lady Lions swept the season series from the Islanders, so a win or a TAMU-CC loss to close the regular season, will give SLU its first-ever SLC regular season championship and the top seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament.
 
Hailey Giaratano leads the Southeastern offense with 12.5 points per game, which is good for 10^th in the Southland. Alexius Horne joins Giaratano in double figures and among the SLC leaders with 12.3 points per contest (13^th). Jen Pierre is the team's top distributor with 2.9 assists per outing.
 
Southeastern features two of the top rebounders in the Southland Conference in Natalie Kelly and Chrissy Brown. Kelly enters Wednesday's contest ranked second in the Southland with 8.9 rebounds per game, while Brown (7.0 rpg) sits in eighth.
 
SLU leads the Southland in scoring defense, holding opponents to 54.6 points per game. Kelly's league-high 2.4 blocked shots per game is over a block per game more than the second-place player. Pierre paces the Lady Lions with 40 steals.
 
HCU needs a win Wednesday to keep its postseason hopes alive. The Huskies will be looking to snap a five-game losing skid. N'Denasjia Collins leads three HCU players in double figures with 14.6 points per game to go with 7.6 rebounds per outing. Julia Vujakovic leads the Huskies with 2.3 assists and just under two steals per game.  
 
Regardless of Wednesday's outcome, SLU will be a top two seed and earn a bye into the semifinals of the Jersey Mike's Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Louisiana Travel, which runs March 6-9 in the Legacy Center in Lake Charles. All of the first three rounds will air on ESPN+ and Thursday's 4 p.m. championship game will be televised on ESPNU.
 
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.