HAMMOND, La – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team will take on a pair of in-state Southland Conference rivals this week.
 
Southeastern (13-8, 9-3 Southland) travels to McNeese (9-13, 6-5 SLC) for a 5 p.m. contest Thursday in Lake Charles. On Saturday, SLU welcomes Nicholls (4-17, 1-9 SLC) to the University Center Saturday at 1 p.m.  
 
Fans can get postgame autographs from their favorite Lady Lions following Saturday's contest. Saturday's Spotlight Player of the Game is Cierra Cunningham and the first 150 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Tuscaloosa, Alabama native courtesy of PRIDE.
 
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats for Thursday's contest can be accessed at www.McNeeseSports.com and can be found at www.LionSports.net for Saturday's contest.
 
The Lady Lions completed their season sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last Saturday with a 59-51 victory, moving to one game out of the conference lead. Alexius Horne led SLU to victory with a 24-point effort, while Natalie Kelly paced Southeastern on the defensive end with five blocked shots.
 
Horne's 13.0 points per game are good for seventh in the Southland, while Giaratano (11.9 ppg) joins her in double figures and is 11^th on the SLC scoring leaderboard. Jen Pierre leads SLU with 2.7 assists per contest.
 
Southeastern features two of the Southland's top rebounders in Kelly (7.6 rpg, 3^rd) and Chrissy Brown (7.0 rpg, 6^th). Kelly anchors the league's top scoring defense with a SLC-best 2.4 blocked shots per contest.
 
McNeese is coming off of a 75-67 win over Texas A&M-Commerce last Saturday. Zuzanna Kulinska scored 21 points against TAMU-C while Divine Tanks pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Paris Mullins anchors a balanced Cowgirl attack with 9.8 points per game. Divine Tanks leads McNeese with 5.8 rebounds per outing – good for 12^th in the Southland.
 
SLU returns home to face a Nicholls team looking to snap a six-game losing streak Saturday. Lexi Alexander leads the Colonels with 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest.
 
Southeastern will be looking to complete a season sweep of Nicholls, as the Lady Lions earned a 57-49 victory on New Year's Eve in Thibodaux. Giaratano scored 15 points, while Horne chipped in 13 points and a team-high six rebounds to lead SLU to the win.
 
Following this week's action, Southeastern will play four of its final five away from home. The stretch opens with a 5:30 p.m. contest Feb. 16 at Northwestern State that will air on ESPN+.
 
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.