KATY, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will open Southland Conference Tournament play on Tuesday, facing top-seeded Lamar in first round action at 6 p.m. at the Merrell Center.

Tuesday's game between the Lady Lions (12-17, 6-10 Southland) and league regular season co-champion Lady Cardinals (23-7, 13-3 Southland) will be the third of four first round contests scheduled for the tournament's opening day. The game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the Internet at www.LionSports.net. Live statistics and live streaming video will be available at www.southland.org.

Should Southeastern upset Lamar on Tuesday, the Lady Lions would advance to Thursday's semifinals versus the winner of Tuesday's first round game between No. 4 seed UTSA and fifth-seeded UT Arlington. Tip-off for Thursday's semifinals is set for 2:30 p.m. The semifinal winners will meet on Friday in the championship game at 7 p.m. with the winner earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The semifinal and final rounds will be televised live on the Southland Television Network (Charter Channel 22 in the Hammond area).

The Lady Lions will be making a trip to the Southland Conference Tournament for the second straight year and their seventh trip overall. Southeastern is 1-6 in its previous six trips to the postseason tournament. Southeastern's only tournament win was a 66-63 win over UTSA during the 2001-02 season.

“We're looking forward to competing in the Southland Conference Tournament,” Southeastern head coach Lori Davis Jones said. “We're aware that we're the underdogs against a very talented Lamar team, but we're going to go out and compete hard. Hopefully, Cinderella will be wearing green and gold this week.”

Wins over Central Arkansas and McNeese State secured the berth in the tournament for the Lady Lions. Junior forward Rashima Jenkins (13 points), senior forward Zevy Ivory (10 points) and freshman guard Erica Burgess (10 points) all scored in double figures in Saturday's regular season at Northwestern State, but a fast start and an 18-3 game-ending run by the Lady Demons was too much for Southeastern to overcome in an 84-59 loss.

The Lady Lions closed out the regular season averaging 62.7 points per game. Ivory, who was named to the All-Southland Conference team as a third team selection on Monday, leads the team with 10.0 points per game. Rashima Jenkins (9.8 ppg), sophomore guard Kelli Jenkins (8.9 ppg), senior guard Kim Edmonson (7.6 ppg), Burgess (6.4 ppg) and junior guard Chelsea Hix (5.9 ppg) are the other top weapons for Southeastern's balanced attack.

Kelli Jenkins is the team's top distributor, averaging just under four assists per game. Her 114 assists this season are the most by a Lady Lion since the 1995-96 season.

Southeastern has held opponents to a league-low 36.6 rebounds per contest and after out-rebounding the Lady Demons, 49-35, on Saturday, have a plus-2.5 rebounding margin on the year. Ivory leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game, followed by Rashima Jenkins and her 6.0 rebound per game margin. Ivory, a Shreveport native, is 13th in school history with 528 career rebounds.

Ivory is not the only active Lady Lion listed in the Southeastern career record books. Hix (110, 3rd) and Edmonson (101, 5th) are two of the six players with 100 or more career three-point field goals.

Defensively, the Lady Lions have held opponents to 65.3 points per game and forced 18.4 turnovers per contest. Burgess is the lone Lady Lion averaging over a steal per game, leading the squad with 42 steals. Ivory leads the team with 23 blocks on the year and ranks fourth in school history with 80 career blocked shots.

Southeastern will have to be at its best defensively against a high-powered Lamar team that averages 75.4 points per game. The Lady Cardinals, which shared the league regular season crown with Stephen F. Austin, clinched their first-ever Southland title with an 81-52 rout of Nicholls on Saturday. Freshman guard Kalis Loyd posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while junior guard Jenna Plumley dished out 12 assists in the victory.

The Southland Conference Player and Newcomer of the Year, Plumley leads the team with 14.6 points per game, has hit a Southland Conference single-season record 97 three-point field goals and leads the Southland with 6.5 assists per game. Third team All-Southland pick Loyd and second team All-Southland choice Darika Hill follow Plumley with 13.3 and 12.5 points, respectively. Senior forward Brittney Williams is just short of double figures with 9.7 points per outing.

Lamar is averaging 41.2 rebounds per contest. Honorable mention All-Southland selection Trashanna Smith leads the Lady Cardinals with 7.9 rebounds per contest. Loyd (6.7 rpg) and Hill (6.4 rpg) are the other top rebounders for Lamar.

Lamar is holding opponents to 66.3 points per contest and forcing 14.2 turnovers per game. Plumley (82) and Loyd (69) are both among the Southland steals leaders. Smith leads the Southland with 62 blocked shots on the year.

Southeastern is 18-10 all-time versus Lamar. In the first meeting this season, Ivory led three Lady Lion in double figures with 13 points, but Southeastern suffered an 85-58 loss. Plumley led six Lady Cardinals in double figures with a game-high 17 points and dished out a game-high eight assists.

2010 Southland Conference Tournament
March 9-12, 2010
Merrell Center – Katy, Texas

Tuesday, March 9 – First Round
Game 1 – No. 2 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 7 Northwestern State, 12 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 3 UTSA vs. No. 6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3 – No. 1 Lamar vs. No. 8 Southeastern Louisiana, 6 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 4 UTSA vs. No. 5 UT Arlington, 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 11 – Semifinals
Game 5 – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 2:30 p.m.

Friday, March 12 – Finals
Game 7 – Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.