HAMMOND, La. – The reigning Southland Conference champions Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team pulled ahead to advance to 5-0 in conference with a 55-48 victory against Northwestern State in the Pride Roofing University Center Thursday evening.
Veteran guard
Hailey Giaratano led all scorers with 23 points to help Southeastern (9-7, 5-0 SLC) secure the win with a 12-point spark late into the fourth quarter.
Reigning Southland Player of the Week
Jalencia Pierre contributed eight points along with sophomore guard
Allasia Washington following up with six points. Southeastern's depth added in balanced scoring from
Mackenzie Thomas (five points) and
Avari Berry (four points).
The Lady Lions continue to dominate in the paint with a 30-16-point advantage over Northwestern State. SLU has led every opponent in all five matches in paint production.
Southeastern fought back after a slow start to end the first quarter down by one point, 14-13. In the second quarter the Lady Lions turned up their tenacity on defense to achieve a 15-6-point advantage over the Lady Demons to gain their largest lead in the contest.
SLU forced Northwestern State into 20 turnovers, though two players for the Lady Demons finished the night in double-digit scoring. Karmelah Dean scored 17 points with six rebounds to cause Southeastern trouble throughout the matchup. Sharna Ayres (13 points) and Carla Celaya (six points) also carried Northwestern's momentum shooting 45.4 percent from behind the arch.
Northwestern State gained control in the third quarter with a 15-4-point advantage over the Lady Lions. Southeastern bounced back in the fourth quarter due to foul trouble for the Lady Demons capitalizing off easy points at the free throw line to secure a seven point win.
Southeastern will be back in the Pride Roofing University Center Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. to take on Texas A&M-Commerce.
Terri Crawford will be the Spotlight Player of the Game for the matchup. The first 150 fans will receive trading cards of the junior, courtesy of PRIDE. The Lady Lions would like to extend a special welcome to the Hammond Community on Saturday for Family Day. Saturday's matchup will be televised on ESPN+ and can be heard online at
www.LionSports.net/ListenLive.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on X, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern offers mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
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.
