Thursday, November 19
Defense, Balanced Scoring Lead Cajuns to 81-28 Victory
LAFAYETTE – All 11 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns players scored in the team's 2015-16 home opener, carrying the Cajuns to an 81-28 victory over Southern-New Orleans Thursday night at Earl K. Long Gymnasium.
The Cajuns (2-0) defense held the Lady Knights to single-digit points in three of the fourth quarters, including a three-point mark in the second quarter. The win puts the Cajuns' record at 2-0 to start the 2015-16 campaign for the fourth-straight season.
Sophomore forward Simone Fields matched her career high with 15 points off the bench to lead all scorers in the contest.
A 28-12 first quarter run by the Cajuns put the game in doubt in the early stages.
The Cajuns had the hot hand going early, knocking down nine of their first 10 shots and racing to an 18-6 advantage. Wilridge scored six of her 11 total points in the first five minutes of the game. Senior Keke Veal scored seven of her 13 points in the opening quarter, passing Ann Harper and Mary Douglas for sole possession of ninth place on the Cajuns' all-time scoring list (1,085).
"No doubt, Keke is one of the elite players in this program's history," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "She is a very good player and can score in bunches. She limited the turnovers tonight as well. She has to keep working hard and we will continue to put the ball in her hands with opportunities to score."
Taking a 16-point lead into the second quarter, Veal and junior Gabby Alexander combined for the first eight points, all via layups. Back-to-back buckets from Fields in the final 2 ½ minutes added to the lead, putting Southern-New Orleans in a 48-13 hole. The Lady Knights scored their only field goal of the second quarter with 1:20 on the clock.
The second unit of the Cajuns scored eight points in the second quarter. Louisiana capitalized with 10 points off Lady Knight turnovers and outscored SUNO, 11-0 in second chance points.
The game's point differential in the third quarter reached as many as 47 in favor of the Cajuns with 2:24 on the clock. Five of Fields' 15 points came in the third quarter off the bench.
Louisiana's second unit stole the show in the fourth quarter, accounting for all 13 of the team's points. Freshman center Alex Weeks scored all four of her points in the final quarter.
"We went back to our man-to-man defense," Brodhead said. "Our goal was to keep them under 42 points which is what we did.
"We had different lineups and wanted to see how different kids guarded," he added. "We thought they did a great job of keeping them out of the middle of the floor and keeping SUNO off the boards. This defense is always a process - we have to continue rotating kids in and getting the system to work."
The Cajuns shot 50% (34-of-68) from the floor and knocked down 12-of-16 shots from the charity stripe (75%). In the first quarter alone, the Cajuns made all but two shots (12-of-14) for a sizzling 85.7%.
Next up for Louisiana is a road trip to the University of Houston this Sunday, November 22 where the Cougars await. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
Marshall's Double-Double Leads App State to First Win
BOONE, N.C. - Mia Marshall (Lilburn, Ga./Lilburn) captured her first-career double-double and Appalachian State University women’s basketball held ETSU to a season-low 28.1 percent shooting from the floor as the Mountaineers defeated the Buccaneers 70-52 on Thursday night at the Holmes Center.
App State Starters: #02 Farrahn Wood (Kernersville, N.C./Forsythe Country Day), #10 Joi Jones (Duluth, Ga./Duluth), #23 KeKe Cooper (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman), #34 Madi Story (Maiden, N.C./Bandys), #42 Mia Marshall
ETSU Starters: #02 Shamauria Bridges, #03 Adrian Vaughan, #10 Chandler Christopher, #24 Shomari Kendrick, #30 Sadasia Tipps
“Tonight was a great team win,” said head coach Angel Elderkin. “I am really proud of our team’s progress. We have committed to defense and rebounding and it was evident tonight.”
Jones scored in double figures for the second time in three games with 16 points on six buckets while dishing out three assists and tying a career high with seven boards.
Marshall notched career highs in points (11), rebounds (12) and blocks (five) to go with an efficient 5-for-6 performance from the field. Cooper had herself an all-around game with 10 points, eight boards (three offensive) and a pair of swats.
Appalachian dominated down low outscoring the Bucs,36-12 inside the paint and held a 49-30 advantage on the boards.
Not only did the Apps dominate inside, the Apps suffocated ETSU into 21 turnovers and forced two of its three leading scorers (Shamauria Bridges and Chandler Christopher) to shoot a combined 9-for-31 from the field for 33 points and nine miscues.
The Apps shot out of their slump shooting a season-high 43.1 percent from the field, including a first half performance of 14-for-29 (48.3 percent) from the floor. Appalachian also shot 21-for-41 (51.2 percent) from inside the arc.
With the first quarter tied, 6-6, the Black and Gold outscored the Bucs,13-6, over the final 6:24 where five different players scored. App State held ETSU to a 4:14 scoring drought at one point and 2-for-9 from the field during the rest of the opening quarter.
From that point on, Appalachian was clicking on all cylinders capturing a double-digit lead through the rest of the contest, and stretching the advantage to as much as 18, 32-14, with 3:31 left in the second quarter. The Mountaineers held ETSU to just 10 points in the second stanza going into the locker room with a score of 38-22.
The duo of Marshall and Jones combined to shoot 9-for-13 for 20 of the team’s points going into the break.
Appalachian didn’t let up in the second half never allowing the lead to dip below 14 while increasing the margin to as much as 22, 51-29, in the third quarter after Ashley Bassett-Smith (Pickerington, Ohio/UT Martin) nailed two from the charity stripe.
Until the final horn went off, the Apps cruised to their first victory of the season, giving them confidence and momentum going into next week’s Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament against three formidable opponents.
App State will start the tournament on Friday, Nov. 27 against South Dakota at 2:30 p.m. The winners will play on the following day at 2:30 p.m. while the consolation game will take place at 12:00 p.m.
Panthers Can't Overcome Poor Shooting, Fall 72-65 to Tennessee Tech
COOKEVILLE, TENN – Tennessee Tech held off a second-half Georgia State rally to earn a 72-65 win Thursday night at Eblen Center. Tech had an 18-point lead at 46-28, but visiting GSU had it down to 64-60 with 5:46 and had the ball.
Georgia State (1-1) was its own worst enemy tonight, shooting just 22-of-69 from the field (31.9%) with a 25 percent first half (7 of 28). The Panthers had to make up for that with some hustle plays that forced 24 Tech turnovers to make 11 steals, while grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.
Tennessee Tech (1-2) started strong in building a 21-12 first quarter lead with 50 percent shooting. The Eagles shot 46 percent for the game (27 of 59). Guard Samaria Howard made 8 of 18 shots for a game-high 21 points for Tech.
Georgia State was led tonight by freshman forward Astaja Tyghter with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Junior Tatianna Jackson added 11 points. Leading scorer Makeba Ponder was 3 of 13 for seven points.
After the 21-12 first quarter, host Tech duplicated that with another 21 points and had a 42-28 halftime advantage. The Eagles largest first half lead was 40-22 at 1:34 in the half. Tech was still cruising through the third quarter with another 18-point lead at 46-28 and were up by 14 after three quarters, 59-45.
Three quick baskets to start the fourth quarter gave GSU a spark to close to 59-51 at 9:45, but Tech made it 62-51 at 8:22 for the last double-figure lead. The Panthers got a 3-pointer from Ashlee Cole and a basket from Kennesha Nichols to make it 62-56 with 7:10. The Panthers continued to claw and had it down to 64-60 at 5:46 and had the ball. But, five more missed shots killed that rally.
“You can’t win a basketball game shooting like we did tonight,” coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener of the obvious. “We missed a ton of easy shots, so we can give Tech credit, but know we really hurt ourselves. They did fight like crazy tonight to get back in the game by forcing turnovers, hitting the offensive glass and getting to the free throw line 25 times. You can’t dig big holes like that and expect to win and you can’t shoot that poorly and expect to win. Now, we’ll get to play a game on our home court on Saturday.”