HOUSTON – The HBU women's basketball team used a big 15-0 run late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter to push themselves past the New Orleans Privateers in Southland Conference basketball Thursday night in Sharp Gym.
 
The Huskies (7-8, 3-1 SLC) offense came out firing in the first quarter, starting the game on an 8-4 run. In her first start of the season, Amy Cotton opened the scoring for the Huskies after she collected her own missed jump shot and converted a layup on the second chance opportunity. Julija Vujakovic made a layup on the Huskies next trip down the floor before the Privateers (1-10, 0-4 SLC) made their first bucket of the game. After New Orleans cut the lead to 8-5 a few possessions later, Vujakovic made a pair of three pointers and Timia Jefferson knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the Husky lead to 16-5.
 
The Huskies played great defense in the first quarter, holding the Privateer to just 3-10 shooting for nine points. The Huskies took a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Huskies offense fell quiet in the second quarter, as they converted on just four of their 16 shots from the field, one of four shots from behind the three-point arc, and two of four shots from the foul line. They were outscored by New Orleans in the second quarter, 16-11, but still took a 28-25 lead into halftime.
 
The Privateers came out in the second half shooting the ball well, making three of their first six shots. After a Husky turnover, head coach Donna Finnie called a timeout with 4:33 left to play in the quarter to regroup. The Huskies' came out of the timeout and closed the quarter out on an 8-0 run to stretch their lead to eight, 42-34.
 
The Huskies offensive run wasn't done there. Coming out of the break, the Huskies went on a 9-2 run to open things up 51-36, including a made three from Jefferson and made jump shots from Wilson and Vujakovic. The Privateers showed fight, scoring 13 points over the last six minutes, but the big Husky run proved to be too much to overcome.
 
"I was not happy with our offensive execution tonight but was happy coming out that timeout in the third that we picked up our defensive intensity", Finnie said. "More so, we stuck to our defensive principles. We have to be better for longer stretches moving forward."
 
For the game, Vujakovic and Jefferson led the way for the Huskies with 16 and 14 points respectively, while Wilson added 10 points and three assists. N'Denasija Collins just narrowly missed earning another double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds. Cotton added five points and five rebounds.
 
For New Orleans, DeArica Pryor filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, four assists, two steals, and two rebounds. Nahja Scott added 10 points on 4-8 shooting from the field.
 
The Huskies out rebounded the Privateers, 33-30, and had a better shooting percentage from the field, from three-point range, and from the foul line.
The Huskies take the court again on Saturday afternoon when they host the Nicholls Colonels with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m. Both the women's and men's games on Saturday will be featured as the Southland Games of the Week and will air live on ESPN+.