NEW ORLEANS, La. – Texas Southern's fourth-quarter comeback came up just short Thursday as the Lady Tigers fell 72-69 at New Orleans.
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At UNO's Lakefront Arena, the Lady Tigers had two chances to tie the game in the final 10 seconds, but the Privateers defense prevailed each time.
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Joyce Kennerson scored a team-high 22 points for the Lady Tigers (5-5), who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Senior guard Kaitlyn Palmer added 20 points, which included a 5-for-11 showing from 3-point range; Palmer scored her 15 of her 20 points after halftime.
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Randi Brown scored 25 points to lead New Orleans (4-7); the Privateers won their third consecutive contest.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Privateers led by as many as nine points midway through the final period, but a 6-0 TSU run, which included a 3-pointer by Palmer and a fast-break layup by Camille Mills, cut UNO's lead to 69-66 with a 1:45 remaining.
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TSU came up empty-handed on the next two possessions, and UNO appeared to put the game out of reach when Brown converted a layup while getting fouled with 53 seconds showing on the clock. Brown made the subsequent free throw to give the Privateers a 72-66 lead.
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On the next trip down the floor, Palmer knocked down her fourth 3-pointer of the half to cut the lead to three points with 45 seconds remaining. Needing a stop, the Lady Tigers than forced another UNO turnover with 18 seconds left to play.
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TSU put the ball in Palmer's hands again, but the Privateers toughened their perimeter defense and her shot with five seconds left was well-guarded and off the mark. UNO's Shania Woods corralled the rebound, but was called for a travel, giving TSU another shot with 1.2 seconds remaining. This time, the inbound pass could not be caught cleanly, and UNO held on for the win.
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NEXT UP:
The Lady Tigers will have a week off for the Christmas break before playing their final non-conference game of the year Thursday, Dec. 28, at Mississippi. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, and will be shown on SEC Network+, the online streaming channel of the SEC Network.
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KEY POINTS:
• The Lady Tigers fell down by 10 points in the third quarter, but regained the lead thanks to a 12-0 run. Palmer scored nine points during that run, knocking down consecutive 3-pointers and converting a layup and ensuing free throw.
• Mills scored a career-high 10 points for the Lady Tigers in addition to pulling in six rebounds.
• Kennerson tied her career high by handing out eight assists.
• Junior transfer Ashley Murray scored six points for the Lady Tigers on 3-of-4 shooting. The six points marked a Division I career-high for Murray, who played her freshman season at Iona in 2014-15.
• The Lady Tigers' four-game winning streak over teams from outside the Southwestern Athletic Conference was snapped. The last time TSU had won four such games in a row was 1988.
• Kennerson's scoring average fell to 26.1 points per game, one-tenth of a point per game lower than Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell, who reclaimed the nation's scoring lead.
• Though New Orleans was only called for five fouls as a team in the second half, the Privateers shot only one more free throw in the game (14) than TSU. The difference was in the makes: UNO, the best free-throw shooting team in the Southland Conference, made 13 out of 14 attempts, good for a 92 percent showing. TSU sank only 69 percent (9 of 13) of its free throw attempts.
• The Lady Tigers fell to 2-1 against Southland Conference teams this season.
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TWEET of the GAME:
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