Saturday, Nov. 22

Ragin' Cajuns Score Historic Win over UL Lafayette Tech
LAFAYETTE, La. – It was a memorable win for the UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team Saturday afternoon as the Cajuns recorded their first victory over UL Lafayette Tech in program history with a 58-55 win. The 3-0 start to the season for the Cajuns is their first since the 2004-05 season.

"A lot of our girls are maybe familiar with what UL Lafayette Tech was, but I knew what it was," said head coach Garry Brodhead. "I spent a lot of time at Tech as a young coach looking at what coach (Leon) Barmore did. When they came here, I never missed a game. To be the first coach and be a part of the first team at UL to beat them is pretty big. I'm excited for our girls. It's a first. That's what our statement was today was let's be the first to be the first. This is one of the biggest wins since we've been here. That's how you build. You build from one step at a time, and this is a big one."

In the final seconds, Chrisstasia Walter's three-point attempt for UL Lafayette Tech (1-2) hit the rim, and UL Lafayette pulled out the historic victory and snapped the Lady Techsters' 39-game winning streak over the Cajuns.

With 3:27 to play, a three by Kanedria Andrews tied the game for the first time at 53-all, but Kia Wilridge answered for the Cajuns with a drive to the basket to put UL Lafayette up 55-53 with 1:55 to play. The Cajuns stretched it to 58-53 with one minute to play after three-straight free throws, but a jumper by JaQuan Jackson made it 58-55 with 35 seconds remaining.

After two missed free throws by the Cajuns, a turnover by the Lady Techsters gave the ball back to UL Lafayette with 14 ticks left on the clock. UL Lafayette Tech drew a charge down in the paint to get the ball back with nine seconds but Walter's three would come up short.

UL Lafayette led the entire way as the Cajuns were in control for a majority of the first half, stretching their lead to as much as 18 at 32-14 at the 2:15 mark in the first period.

"I thought we played really well on the defensive side as well as the offensive side," Brodhead said. "We were very patient in finding good openings and great shots, but I think it was the defense that got them out of what they wanted to do. On the offensive side in the first half, I thought we did an excellent job of taking care of the ball and taking really good shots. We played as a team today."

Kia Wilridge led the Cajuns with 18 points while also recording a team-best five assists. Jaylyn Gordon added 15 points with three treys and six rebounds.

"Kia did a good job of getting to the rim and finding people and Jaylyn shot the ball extremely well," Brodhead said. "They made some big plays, especially at the end of the game. All of our guards did a great job of handling the ball and taking care of it."

Andrews led the Lady Techsters with 14 points, shooting 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Jackson added 12 points and four assists while Whitney Frazier added 10 points for UL Lafayette Tech.

UL Lafayette took an 8-4 advantage into the first media timeout as the teams traded baskets over the next several minutes. After a jumper by Kelia Shelton to make it 15-12, the Cajuns put together a 10-0 run with three-pointers from Gordon and Keke Veal to take a 25-12 lead with 8:18 to play in the half.

With the Cajuns holding a 27-14 lead, both teams went silent on the offensive end over the next several minutes until Gordon knocked down a shot from outside then added a layup to give UL Lafayette its largest lead of the game at 32-14. The Lady Techsters ended the half on a 5-0 run as the Cajuns took a 32-19 lead into halftime.

UL Lafayette Tech mounted a run to begin the second half with a 9-2 spurt in the first five minutes out of the break. With 9:28 to play, Tiara Davenport pulled the Lady Techsters within two at 41-39, but the Cajuns answered with a 7-0 run, capped off by a three from Gordon to make it 48-39 with 7:58 remaining in the game.

"We talked in timeouts when they were making their run that we have to make stops so we can't let them get in their press," Brodhead said. "They drove it to the goal a couple of times and then they got in the press and we turned it over a couple of times. It got them in their game. We got it back together. We were able to guard and make some stops toward the last minute or so and that was big for us."

UL Lafayette shot 49 percent from the field while holding the Lady Techsters to 38 percent. UL Lafayette Tech finished 8-of-25 from behind the arc while the Cajuns were 4-of-9 from long range.

The Cajuns travel to Hammond on Saturday when they take on Southeastern UL Lafayette in a 2 p.m. contest at the University Center.

Mountaineers Knock Off UNCW, 82-72
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball got an 82-72 win over UNCW on Saturday afternoon, led by Katie Mallow's 25 points.

The Mountaineers (2-1) struggled to maintain a lead in the first half against the Seahawks (2-1), but came out in the second to go on a 9-0 run and close out the victory.

The first half would be a battle, as UNCW came out to score the first two points of the game, before Appalachian would respond ten seconds later with a layup from KeKe Cooper to tie the game. There would be nine more tied scores in the first half.

Two free throws from Cooper at the 16:11 mark put the Apps up, 11-10, but UNCW would quickly pull ahead by two with a three-pointer from Madison Raque.

The Mountaineers got the lead with 13 minutes to play in the first, but the Seahawks once again pulled ahead at the 9:18 mark and kept the lead for the rest of the first half, leading 43-41 at halftime.

Freshman Madi Story led the Mountaineers in the first half with nine points, while Cooper tallied five rebounds for Appalachian. The Apps shot 48.6 percent from the floor in the first.

Jordan Henry led UNCW at halftime with 11 points while the team shot 50.0 percent in the first half.

The Mountaineers came out in the second half on fire, scoring a three-pointer just nine seconds in, helping them go on a 9-0 run to lead 50-43 with 16:30 to play. UNCW would return from a timeout and begin to score, trailing by just one point with 10:49 to play.

The Apps began to rally, led by back-to-back three-pointers from Mallow, opening up their lead to a score of 69-59 at the 7:51 minute mark. The Seahawks would not come within less than eight points for the rest of the game as the Mountaineers finished it out with an 82-72 win.

The Mountaineers were led by Mallow's career-high 25 points and Maryah Sydnor's 19. Sydnor recorded a team-high eight rebounds, followed by Cooper's seven and Mia Marshall's six.

The team shots 50.8 percent from the floor in the game and 60.0 percent from behind the arc. The Apps tallied 35 rebounds and turned the ball over 14 times.

Kelva Atkins led UNCW with 16 points, while also recording seven rebounds. The Seahawks had 38 rebounds and 14 turnovers, while posting a field goal percentage of 42.6 percent.

The Mountaineers return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 25 when they host Gardner-Webb at 7 p.m.

UALR Keeps Rolling, Defeats Rice to Improve to 3-0
HOUSTON – Nothing went right for the UALR offense in the first half at Rice on Saturday afternoon. Everything went right in the second.

The Trojans more than doubled their offensive output from the first to the second half and wound up cruising to a 55-40 victory over the Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse.

After just 18 points in the first half, UALR (3-0) torched Rice (1-2) for 37 points in the second. The team shot a lowly 20.7 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes but boosted that to a much-better 42.4 percent in the second.

The defense, meanwhile, was excellent throughout. The Trojans held Rice to 21 points in the first half to keep the game close and then allowed the Owls a mere 19 points in the second half. The Owls went more than 12 minutes without a field goal in the period, approximately the same length of time that LSU went without a made basket when UALR played in Baton Rouge on Nov. 14.

Senior Taylor Gault wound up leading UALR with 11 points, and classmate Kiera Clark also reached double figures for the first time this season with 10 while eclipsing 700 career points in the process. Ka'Nesheia Cobbins was the team’s leading rebounder with seven, and she also topped the team with three assists and an impressive five steals.

The win gives UALR a 3-0 start to a season for the first time since 1982 and just the second time in school history. The Trojans also improved their winning streak against the Owls to six. Saturday was the team's third consecutive double-digit victory to start the season; the Trojans' average margin of victory is 15 points per game.

Though the game was tight entering the second half, the result was decided in the first 10 minutes of that frame. After trading layups with the Owls to start the period, UALR went on a 13-0 run thanks to making simple layups that they had been missing the first half and geting two 3-pointers from freshman Monique Townson in her first action with the team.

The lead only ballooned from there. Midway through the second half, the Trojans had already scored seven more points than they did in the entire first half, and Rice called a timeout trailing 43-26 to sort things out with 9:45 to play.

The Trojans extended their lead to 21 with 8:19 to play, and at that point the contest was all but decided. UALR’s offense slowed things down for the rest of the afternoon and dripped away seconds from the clock to keep the Owls from mounting any kind of comeback. At one point late, the Trojans’ largest lead had improved to 23.

Townson finished the game with 9 points on three 3-pointers, while Shanity James had 8 and Keanna Keys had 7. James and Keys were tied for second on the roster with six rebounds. Clark had five rebounds and picked up the 150th offensive board of her career. Cobbins also picked up the 100th defensive rebound of her Trojan career. Keys scored the 100th point of her career in the game as well.

The game’s first four minutes were a defensive struggle, as the teams combined for just one basket and four turnovers in that span. The Trojans went down 4-0 on consecutive Rice baskets, but a Clark jumper cut that lead in half entering the first media timeout.

The offensive difficulties continued for the next six minutes, as the team was shooting 1 of 15 from the field at the second media timeout and Rice led by seven. A Gault driving layup finally broke a long scoreless stretch, and Clark followed with a jumper of her own to cut Rice’s lead to 11-8 with nine minutes left in the half. Two free throws from Clark and another slashing layup from Gault gave UALR its first lead at 12-11 entering the third media timeout.

The UALR defense was also great in that span, not allowing Rice to make a basket for more than five minutes. With three minutes left in the half, the teams had combined to make just 11 shots on 49 attempts.

In the final minutes of the half, Rice would take a lead thanks to 3-point shots on back-to-back possessions. The Owls led 21-18 at the break.

UALR plays its next game back at home, taking on Oral Roberts at the Jack Stephens Center on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Texas State Falls at Home to Houston Baptist
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team fell on Saturday afternoon to the Houston Baptist Huskies by a score of 61-56. Sophomore guard Kaitlin Walla led the Bobcats with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

The first half of the game was a series of runs on both sides of the basketball. Houston Baptist opened up the contest with a 6-0 run through the first three minutes of the game. Texas State answered starting with 16:50 left in the first and proceeded to rattle off a 14-0 run to take a 14-6 lead over the Huskies.

With 11:28 left in the first, Meghan Braeuer made a lay-up to give Texas State its largest lead of the game, 18-8.

At one point in the first, Houston Baptist held Texas State scoreless for almost four minutes as it proceeded to tie up the game at 21-all. The Huskies finished the first half on a 21-8 run against the Bobcats. Walla led Texas State with nine first half points.

After the intermission, Texas State saw what was a seven point Houston Baptist lead grow to as many as 10 in the early moments of the second half. That 10 point lead by the Huskies was then snapped to zero as the Bobcats produced another large run capped by a three-pointer by Ayriel Anderson with 15:11 left to make it 36-all.

The two squads would proceed to exchange leads in the following minutes with four more ties including the last tie at 55-55 with 3:33 remaining in the game. The Huskies then finished the game on a 6-1 run to defeat the Bobcats for the second-straight time.

Along with Walla, Braeuer led the Bobcats by finishing with 10 points. Kileah Mays finished the game with a career-high four blocks to go along with a team-high 11 rebounds for Texas State. The Bobcats were, however, outrebounded 46-35 by the Huskies.

The Bobcats fall to 1-2 on the young season and 1-1 at Strahan Coliseum.

Texas State will remain at home on Tuesday evening as the Bobcats welcome former Southland Conference foe Lamar to Strahan Coliseum. Tip-off against the Cardinals is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Georgia Southerns Drops Home Contest to Kennessaw State
STATESBORO, Ga. – Jasmine McAllister tallied 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Kennesaw State shot 54 percent in the second half to defeat Georgia Southern 72-51 in women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Anna Claire Knight led the Eagles (1-2) with 11 points, while Angel McGowan and Trellanie English-Lurry each scored 10.

McAllister was 5-of-9 from the floor and 6-for-10 from the free-throw line for Kennesaw State (3-1), which outscored Georgia Southern 43-18 in the paint and outrebounded the Eagles 44-28.

Deandrea Sawyers posted 19 points and six rebounds, while Kristina Wells chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Breonna Mosely finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three steals. Karly Frye posted seven points and seven assists.

The Owls led by eight points at halftime and opened the second stanza with a 17-4 spurt to break the game open. Wells, McAllister and Sawyers combined for 14 points, and Frye hit a triple during the run. A pair of free throws by Sawyers made the score 49-28.

Georgia Southern cut the margin to 17 points on a three-point play by Alexis Sams with 4:29 remaining and to 16 points on a Sierra Kirkland jumper with 2:28 to play, but that was as close as the Eagles would get.

After taking a 2-0 lead on a jumper by Briana Jones early in the contest, the Eagles went cold, missing their next eight shots while Kennesaw State scored 11 straight points. Trailing 23-13, English-Lurry scored five points in a 7-0 Eagle run to cut the margin to three points with 4:50 left in the half. The Owls answered with a jumper by Frye and a 3-pointer by Sawyers and went into the break ahead 32-24. The Eagles shot 32 percent in the first half and 36 percent for the game.

“We struggled to keep them from getting position inside, and we struggled to keep them off the boards on the defensive end,” said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. “On the other end, we had some turnovers early that detracted from our confidence in trying to get the ball inside, and we took some shots that weren’t in the flow of our offense.”

Georgia Southern returns to action at Georgia Tuesday, Nov. 25, in a 7 p.m. tipoff.

Arkansas State Falls to Colorado, 80-69, in WNIT Preseason Consolation Game