HAMMOND, La. – The HBU women's basketball team handed the Southeastern Lady Lions their first conference loss of the season Saturday afternoon inside the University Center.
 
HBU (11-9, 7-2 SLC) played strong throughout the entire contest, forcing 18 Lady Lions' (12-7, 8-1 SLC) turnovers while shooting 40 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep as a unit.
 
The first half was all Huskies as they held their opponents to just 11 points and four made shots. HBU jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead through the first four minutes of game time on a three-pointer from Julija Vujakovic and made jumpers from Marilyn Nzoiwu and Abbey Sutherland forcing an early Southeastern timeout. The timeout stopped the Huskies momentum on offense for a few possessions, but defense turned into offense for HBU who outscored SLU 7-4 to end the period, taking a 14-6 lead into the second quarter.
 
Southeastern made two buckets early in the second quarter and knocked down a free throw to cut the Husky lead to five, but HBU's defense locked in and held them scoreless over the last six minutes of the period. Over that impressive defensive stretch, they went on a 9-0 run of their own including a highly contested three pointer from Vujakovic and an Enya Maguire layup on a fancy behind-the-back pass from Timia Jefferson. This would give the Huskies a 25-11 lead heading into the break.
 
Southeastern came out hot on both ends of the floor in the third quarter, forcing six HBU turnovers and collecting six offensive rebounds leading to 13 second-chance points. A 7-2 run by the Lady Lions to end the quarter cut the Husky lead to just six points heading into the fourth.  
 
A quick layup and three ball from Southeastern to open the fourth quarter cut the Huskies lead to just one with just over nine minutes to play in the contest. HBU would turn their defense up a few notches from there however, holding the Lady Lions to just three points over the next five minutes. Maguire and Collins took over offensively in the fourth, scoring nine and six of their 14 points respectively for HBU. Southeastern could not replicate the offensive rhythm they found in the third quarter as the Huskies pulled away, outscoring the Lady Lions 11-4 over the final four minutes of play to eventually walk away winners, 51-40.
 
HBU had one of their better shooting performance on the season, led by Maguire and N'Denasija Collins who each dropped in 14 points. Vujakovic was right behind them with 11 points, knocking in 50 percent of her three balls. Maguire stuffed the stat sheet adding six boards, three assists, two blocks and a steal. Nzoiwu led HBU in rebounds with eight while Sutherland collected five. Jefferson had five points, tow boards and two assists coming off of the bench from the Huskies.

"I thought our defense today was tremendous. We really did an incredible job of taking away primary looks for them and our posts, I really think Abbey and Marilyn are so underrated in this league," head coach Donna Finnie said post game. "We have a lot to work on as our next road game is a tough one but we will focus on the next as there's a lot of basketball to be played."
 
The Huskies snapped a five game losing streak and split the season series with the Lady Lions.
 
HBU will look to sweet their Louisiana road trip next weekend when they square off with Nicholls Saturday afternoon.