Sunday, November 15
Dominant First Half Pushes Cajuns Past Ole Miss, 82-78
OXFORD, MS – A 19-point first half from junior Jaylyn Gordon opened a 20-point halftime lead for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team, who defeated Ole Miss for the first time in program history, 82-78 Sunday night in their 2015-16 regular season opener at Tad Smith Coliseum in Oxford.
The victory was the first for the Cajuns over an SEC school since Nov. 25, 2006 when they topped South Carolina, 83-68 in Columbia.
"It's a great win for us," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "Beating an SEC opponent like Ole Miss and what they are trying to build. It is great to have a lot of confidence heading into the season. It is continuation of what we did in the WBI [Tournament last year], can we take the next step? These kids believe in one another and do what it takes to get the win."
Gordon led the way with 29 points on 7-of-17 shooting (4-of-9 from three-point) from the floor. The 29 points for the Edgard, La., native tied her career high. Senior guard Keke Veal collected 18 points, while freshman Breionne Cooper provided eight points, six rebounds and two blocks in 15 reserve minutes.
A fast start propelled the Cajuns to a 7-0 lead in the first 2:40 of the game. Leading 4-0, redshirt senior Brooklyn Arceneaux started and finished a three-point play, placing the Rebels in the seven-point hole.
Gordon came back to score the Cajuns next five points, helping Louisiana maintain a five-point advantage at 12-5.
Ole Miss went off on a mini 8-5 run to close to within 17-13 with 2:08 left in the opening stanza, but a pair of threes from Gordon and senior guard Keke Veal and a layup by sophomore Simone Fields opened a 12-point lead.
The Cajuns maintained a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter and began to run away with under 30 seconds left in the first half. Eight unanswered points were ignited by Gordon and freshman Jordan Alexander which opened a 46-23 cushion for Louisiana.
In the second quarter, the Cajuns outscored the Rebels, 21-11 with nine of their points coming from the second unit.
Louisiana maintained its 20-point lead through the first 6:45 of the third quarter before Ole Miss made it a 17-point contest going into the fourth.
Veal opened the final 10 minutes of action and scored on a layup. She drew the foul to complete a three-point play, which gave the Cajuns a commanding 69-49 lead.
However, the Rebels made a comeback, running off nine points in 3:19 to close the gap to 71-58 with 6:09 to play.
Cajuns senior guard Kia Wilridge responded with a pair of buckets to bump Louisiana's lead back to 14, but Ole Miss answered with a three-pointer by Kiara Golden, setting up the final 3:17 of the contest.
With just over two minutes left, the Rebels' Torri Lewis splashed a three-pointer and later deposited a pair of free throws cutting the Cajuns' lead to 75-69.
Veal came back on the next possession and drove the length of the court and dropped in a layup, which bumped the lead back to eight at 77-69 with 1:27 remaining.
Six possessions later after Gordon split a pair of free throws to make it an 80-75 game, Ole Miss continued to stick around, getting a three-pointer from Madinah Muhammad with nine seconds on the clock. On the inbounds pass, Ole Miss fouled Alexander who put the game on ice with a pair of free throw makes to preserve the 82-78 victory.
"We were able to control the tempo in the first half, push it when we needed it," Brodhead said. "I thought we were able to be a little more patient offensively and defensively we kept them off balance in the first half. We played good defense to hold them to 26 in the first half.
"I thought we did a great job of making a few free throws at the end to finish the game off," Brodhead said. "This is what we look for in championship teams – we were able to weather the storm when the opposing team is coming for you like Ole Miss did in the second half."
The Cajuns shot 40% (24-of-60) from the floor and knocked down six three-pointers.
The opening day win was the seventh in the past eight seasons for Louisiana.
The Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team will look to start out 2-0 against Southern-New Orleans at Earl K. Long Gym next Thursday, November 19 for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Texas State Rallies to Defeat St. Edwards in Home Opener
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Down 14 with the fourth quarter to play, the Texas State women's basketball team rallied with a 28-6 run in the final 10 minutes to earn a 52-44 victory over St. Edward's in the home opener Sunday afternoon. The victory marks the first win of the season for the 'Cats as they improve to 1-1 on the year.
Back-to-back made three pointers by Kaitlin Walla with just under eight minutes to play provided the spark and cut the Hilltopper's double-digit lead to four, putting Texas State right back in the ball game. A pair of lay-ups by Taeler Deer as well as one from Ayriel Anderson would be the combination needed to tie up the game and continue to push the momentum in favor of the Bobcats.
Anderson's lay-up sparked additional momentum for the 'Cats as just seconds earlier she earned her third takeaway of the game in the Bobcat's offensive court.
Texas State finished the final three minutes of play on a 12-4 run including six straight free throws by Walla and Anderson to send St. Edward's, who led for all by three and a half minutes of the game, home with a loss.
The Bobcats got off to a slow start with just five points in the first quarter of play. Tempo picked up as the second quarter progressed, but quickly slowed down for the 'Cats in the third. With just 24 points through three quarters, the Bobcats more than doubled their score to go ahead of the Hilltoppers for the victory.
Deer (11) and Walla (10) each finished the game with double-digit points for the first time in the 2015-16 season and Ericka May led all Bobcats with nine rebounds. The 'Cats finished the game shooting 30.8 percent from beyond the arc while holding the Hilltoppers scoreless from three. From the line, Texas State went 14-for-19 at a clip of 73.7 percent.
The Bobcats will remain at home for their next game as they prep to take on North Texas on Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. Live stats, live audio, and live video will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com.
Warhawks Drop Overtime Heartbreaker at LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU’s Raigyne Moncrief hit a jumper with less than a second remaining to force overtime, and the Tigers ultimately outlasted ULM 61-54 on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“I thought obviously it was a great effort by our team,” head coach Jeff Dow said. “We showed a lot of resiliency throughout the game. As I told them in the locker room, this game should serve as a springboard for bigger and better things for our program.”
The Warhawks swayed the pendulum tremendously after trailing 20-9 at the end of the first quarter, outscoring LSU 32-17 over the next two. ULM led by one with 1:22 to play and forced three consecutive turnovers. Chelsea Tieuel got a steal with nine seconds left, and after hitting one foul shot to make it a 53-51 contest, Moncrief hit the shot.
Andreanna Jackson hit one of her two foul shots to get ULM a 54-53 lead, but LSU scored the game’s final eight points and Jenna Deemer’s triple with 1:25 to play gave the Tigers a six-point lead.
The tide really turned for ULM in the third quarter. An 8-0 run over a 4:09 span gave the Warhawks a 37-32 lead with 2:06 to go in the third quarter. Daja Chase nailed a baseline jumper to give ULM its first lead since it was 3-2 and also added a contested layup that pushed the lead to five.
The Warhawks would not trail until there was 5:46 showing on the fourth-quarter clock. Aundrea Davis hit a three to quell the increasingly loud crowd that also ended a 7-0 Tiger run. She followed it up with another three possessions later that gave ULM its second six-point lead of the day, its largest of the game.
Davis had the game of her career. She started 23 games last season and was 10-for-31 from behind the arc. She put together career-highs in points (15), field goals (5), three-pointers (4) on five attempts from deep.
“Coming in, we were the underdogs, just with our standing alone,” Davis said. “To be able to stay with them, lead the game at one point, fight and almost beat them, it’s good for us. Going into our conference, we are going to have that confidence we need to finish.”
The Tigers were held off the board for their first four possessions before Rina Hill laid one in. Their fortunes reversed by the end of the quarter, closing on an 8-0 run with four consecutive good field goal attempts.
The size factor did not hurt ULM too much in the early going, as Alayshia Hunter’s third personal foul of the opening half forced her to miss 10 of the 20 minutes. Newcomers Stephanie Ratliff and Emery Wilson held down the fort, as LSU had just a 10-6 paint points advantage heading into the intermission.
Alayshia Hunter’s free-throw with 7:36 to go in the second quarter was the first ULM point from inside the arc.
The Warhawks had a stretch through the middle of the second half where they made four of five field goal attempts and knocked down a pair of free-throws. A Stephanie Ratliff layup pulled the Warhawks to within 24-20 with 3:36 to go before halftime, making up for the 20-9 first quarter deficit. Tieuel
ULM ended the second half with five makes on its last seven field goals, the last coming on an Andreanna Jackson layup. The defense did its part too, holding LSU to one bucket on its last eight attempts that put the Warhawks down just 28-25 at the intermission.
While LSU led after a 4-3 score and did not give it up the rest of the half, ULM refused to back down. It was an 11-point game right before the first quarter buzzer, but Chelsea Tieuel nailed one of her three triples to begin the next stanza and keep the game in check.
ULM’s next action will be Wednesday night at 7 p.m., the first night contest of the year, against LSU-Shreveport.
Eagles Fall to Lipscomb in Opener
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women's basketball team opened the season and the Kip Drown era Sunday at home against Lipscomb. Despite a furious second half effort that saw the Eagle women close the gap to within a single point in the third quarter, Lipscomb proved to be just too much for the young squad as they ultimately defeated the Eagles 66-55.
Despite facing a double-digit deficit for much of the game, the Eagles (0-1) played to the final buzzer as displayed when sophomore Abby Hix hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to set the final score at 66-55. Redshirt junior guard Alexis Sams finished the game with a team-high 15 points that included a game-high five three-pointers in 38 minutes of work.
Patrice Butler came off the bench to score eight points and corralled in a game-high seven boards, three off the offensive glass and four on the defensive side of the ball, while Trellanie English-Lurry finished the 40-minute period with seven points and six assists.
For the Bison (1-1), Ashley Southern followed up a double-double effort in Lipscomb's season-opener on Friday with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds. Southern ended the game 10-16 from the floor.
The Story
The Eagles got off to a slow start in the first quarter, falling behind 17-9 early, but they picked it up from there. The young squad, which features seven sophomores and two freshmen, was able to keep the second quarter close and even out-scored the Bison 16-14 in the third when Sams pulled Georgia Southern to within the one point mentioned.
But the Bison, powered by Southern, Kelli Smith and Loren Cagle, proved to be too much down the stretch even though the Eagles were able to close to within the one point with 1:56 left in the third quarter.
In the span of just under two minutes in the thrid, Sams hit a pair of critical three-pointers to pull the Eagles to a score of 38-37. However, Southern hit her next open look to extend the lead back out to three and Smith drained a three-ball off of a Georgia Southern turnover. She then cleaned up a missed three-pointer by Southern to give the Bison a seven-point run to end the quarter.