Saturday, November 12
Cajuns Win Season Opener At McNeese, 77-70
LAKE CHARLES – Simone Fields scored 28 points and Jaylyn Gordon added 26 to lead the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns to a 77-70 win over McNeese on Saturday in the season opener for both teams at Burton Coliseum.
McNeese (0-1) took an early 7-6 lead with 6:26 left in the first quarter when Victoria Rachal scored her first of five three-pointers in the game.
Louisiana (1-0) traded baskets with the Cowgirls until Gordon knocked down a jumper to cut the McNeese lead to 21-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Rachal knocked down another three-pointer to start the second quarter and spark a 13-0 run by the Cowgirls. Jasmyn Carswell connected on 1-of-2 free throws to give McNeese a 34-18 lead with 5:32 left in the second quarter.
"We played hard," head coach Garry Brodhead said. "I was very impressed with McNeese and how hard they played. They gave us everything they had."
The Cajuns responded with an 11-3 run of their own that was capped off by a layup from Fields to help trim the Cowgirls lead to 37-29 at halftime.
Fields, who had a double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds, connected on a jumper to open the second half.
McNeese's Mercedes Rogers scored a layup to give the Cowgirls a 49-39 lead with 4:54 left in the third quarter.
Louisiana kept trimming away at the McNeese lead and Jasmine Thomas made a layup with five seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Cowgirls lead to 57-55. Fields tied the game on a layup to start the fourth quarter and Gordon knocked down two free throws to give the Cajuns a 59-57 lead.
"Simone came up really big and scored at will," Brodhead said. "I thought Jaylyn stepped up in the second half and hit some shots that kept us in the game."
Troi Swain's layup gave Louisiana a 67-57 lead with 7:29 left in the game. McNeese would come as close as three points in the closing minutes, but solid free throw shooting from the Cajuns down the stretch helped Louisiana secure the win.
The Ragin' Cajuns will return to action when they host Dillard (La.) in an exhibition game on Nov. 19 and travel to play No. 1 Notre Dame on Nov. 22 at the Campbell Center in Houston, Texas.
Mountaineers Grind Out Win over Gardner-Webb
CHICAGO - Appalachian State University women’s basketball bounced back from a Friday loss to finish third in the Maggie Dixon Classic grinding out a 72-67 victory over Gardner-Webb on Saturday at McGrath-Phillips Arena.
Joi Jones (Duluth, Ga./Duluth) scored a team-high 15 points (11 in the second half) on five shots and five free throws and a team-best three assists while Q. Murray (Baltimore, Md./ George Mason) dropped a career-high 14 points and an impressive five steals. Ashley Bassett-Smith (Pickerington, Ohio/UT Martin) scored a season-high 13 points and five boards on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
It wasn’t just that trio that stepped up, as six other student-athletes would score for the Mountaineers. Bayley Plummer (Thomasville, N.C./East Davidson) added nine points off the bench with six rebounds. Plummer, Jones, and Bassett-Smith combined to go 15-of-18 from the free throw line (rest of the team: 7-of-14).
Madi Story (Maiden, N.C./Bandy) didn’t score like she’s capable of but did a little bit of everything in other areas with six points, seven boards, and two steals.
Numbers across the board were similar with GWU shooting a slightly better percentage (37.0-36.4) and a tight edge in rebounds, 43-42. But the Apps won the turnover battle forcing GWU into 28 miscues and converting those mistakes into 27 points. Appalachian protected the ball with 18 turnovers, a vast improvement from Friday evening (32 turnovers).
The first quarter was neck-and-neck where both teams exchanged six ties and four lead changes. Appalachian scored 10 of its 14 points off GWU mistakes and came away with four steals. Bassett-Smith provided the scoring with eight points, including the final six with App State trailing, 10-8, to push App State to a 14-12 advantage.
In the second frame, App State and the Runnin’ Bulldogs were tied on three different occasions, but GWU couldn’t take the lead. With the scored tied 24-all, the Apps scored four six of the next seven points to take a 30-25 lead into the break. Bassett-Smith once again led the spurt with a pair of free throws followed by a layup from Jones and Elizabeth Norregaard (Vedbaek, Denmark/Middleton) draining a deep 3-pointer before the buzzer went off.
Appalachian looked to gain some separation from GWU in the opening of the third quarter when Murray and Story spearheaded a 6-2 spurt that pushed the Apps’ lead to nine, 36-27. Appalachian increase the lead to as much as 10 (45-35) thanks to a Jones layup. GWU responded with five quick points before the end of the third period. Huntsman hit a running trey at half court before the sound of the horn.
App State stayed on top of Gardner-Webb throughout the start of the fourth quarter, when it looked like the Apps were about to break the game wide open. Murray scored six points in the first 2:58 of the fourth frame to give Appalachian a nine-point lead, 53-44. App State kept the lead but survived a GWU in the final minutes.
With the Apps leading 63-54 late in the fourth quarter, the Runnin’ Bulldogs sliced the lead to one possession, 63-61, with a 7-0 run following a Tierra Huntsman 3-pointer. Appalachian responded with a 5-1 spurt to push the lead to six, 68-62, with 41 seconds left.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs shortened the lead to one possession with six seconds left, but Jones came through once again to with a pair of free throws to clinch the Apps’ first win of the season.
App State will head on the road to Lynchburg, Va. for a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday, Nov. 17 against Liberty.
PANTHERS' LATE RUN COMES UP SHORT
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Despite going on an 11-0 run over the final minutes of Saturday’s game, Georgia State’s women’s basketball team lost 69-59 to Eastern Michigan. GSU falls to 1-1 on the year after splitting two contests at the Donna Murphy Classic.
Playing its second game in as many days, GSU (1-1) had a difficult time applying the same pressure on defense against Eastern Michigan (1-0) as it did against Morehead State on Friday. After recording 19 steals against MSU, the Panthers came up with only six on Saturday. On top of that, Eastern Michigan shot 40% from beyond the arc, sinking six treys.
Newcomer Tiffany Holston led the Panthers in scoring with a 14-point performance. Holston scored all those points in just 16 minutes, however, as the forward got in foul trouble early on. Holston was key in GSU’s 11-0 run to end the game.
“You can see what she can do when she’s in the game,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said about Holston. “I think EMU’s gameplan was to get her in foul trouble and get her off the floor. I think that definitely had an effect on us.”
Sophomore Madison Newby finished with 10 points to join Holston in double figures. Sophomore Astaja Tyghter totaled eight points, four rebounds and three steals and seniors Kennesha Nichols and Tatianna Jackson each recorded six rebounds.
Georgia State fell behind by 15 in the second quarter, but sophomore K.K. Williams sparked a 9-0 run to bring GSU within six heading into the half. Williams scored all seven of her points in that quarter. The Eagles jumped out to a 21-point lead in the second half before the Panthers mounted a comeback in the closing moments, using 11 straight points to make it a 10-point contest. Unfortunately, the Panthers ran out of time and picked up their first loss of the season at the hands of EMU.
Following this weekend’s games, the Panthers return to Atlanta for three straight home games beginning with Allen (S.C.) on Nov. 16 in the GSU Sports Arena.