Cajuns Turnover ASU To Come Away With A Big Win
LAFAYETTE – Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch and a Sun Belt Conference game high 25 caused turnovers, gave the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team the regular season sweep over the Arkansas State Red Wolves with a 60-53 victory Thursday night at the Cajundome.
The win improved the Cajuns record to 15-14 (10-7 SBC) while the loss dropped the Red Wolves record to 14-14 (9-8 SBC). It's the fourth straight win the Cajuns have had against Arkansas State and for the second straight season they've completed the regular season sweep of the Red Wolves.
Freshman Skyler Goodwin led the Cajuns in scoring with 12 points on 8 for 10 shooting from the free throw line and senior Simone Fields gave the Cajuns their second player in double-digits with 10 points. Freshman Ty'Reonne Doucet was impressive off the bench as she had six points and seven rebounds. Louisiana outscored the Red Wolves in both points in the paint (26-24) and points off of turnovers (28-15). The Cajuns also got 34 points off the bench while shooting 73 percent from the line to help finish off the Red Wolves.
HOW IT HAPPENED (First Quarter): Louisiana got the turnover fest off to a fast start with the Cajuns causing five Arkansas State turnovers in the first five minutes. In fact, the Cajuns defense was strong throughout the quarter forcing a scoring drought by the Red Wolves through the middle part of the quarter that lasted just about four minutes.
During that stretch the Cajuns pushed their lead to seven going up 12-5 at one point in the period, but a pair of three-point baskets from the Red Wolves allowed them to cut into the Cajuns lead. Louisiana's lead was sitting at two when they got the final possession, freshman Jomyra Mathis dribbled at the top of the three-point arc, crossed over her defender and as the clocked ticked down she kissed a jumper off the glass to give the Cajuns a buzzer-beating basket and a four-point lead, 15-11, after one period of play.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Second Quarter): The Cajuns came out and pushed their lead back to seven points while their defense maintained their dominating presence, causing eight turnovers in the period and it was a key reason why Louisiana would stay ahead of the Red Wolves.
Louisiana hit a scoring drought starting at the 5:15 mark, but through that stretch, and Louisiana entering the cold spell up by seven (21-14) the Red Wolves could only get as close as three points. During that stretch the Cajuns defense caused Arkansas State to miss four shots and turn the ball over once and a three-point basket from senior Troi Swain ended the drought and got the Cajuns back on the right foot.
Three more free throws by the Cajuns pushed their lead back to nine points, and as halftime rolled along, the Cajuns were up 27-18 having finished the half on a 6-0 run to carry momentum into the locker room.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Third Quarter): Louisiana struggled coming out of the locker room, not scoring for the first three and a half minutes before a big play from Doucet ended that spell. She jumped a pass just past half court and deflected the pass down the right sideline. She hunted down the deflection, and easily finished off the fast break layup.
Arkansas State attempted to cut into the lead, but Fields had other ideas. Coming out of the media timeout at the 4:43 mark of the quarter, Fields came out of the break on fire hitting back-to-back baskets to push the score to 35-27 with just over three minutes left.
Again, the Cajuns slipped into a scoring drought, and the Red Wolves began to cut into Louisiana's lead. At one point slicing it down to one point, but that's the closest the Red Wolves would get for the remainder of the game and Fields hit a jumper with the clock sitting at eight seconds and that put the score at 37-34 with the Cajuns holding a three-point lead heading into the final quarter.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Fourth Quarter): Things got physical in the final quarter, as both teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the quarter and a layup from Doucet followed by two free throws from Burton put the Cajuns up by 10 points (44-34) at the 6:32 mark.
Arkansas State cut back into the Cajuns lead, dropping it bellow double-digits to get within five points with back-to-back baskets as the clock ticked below four minutes left in the game. Sophomore Jasmine Thomas nailed a three-point basket to put the Cajuns up by eight points and that would be the last field goal the Cajuns would make for the remainder of the game.
But it wasn't the last point as Louisiana began to get sent to the line by Arkansas State and the Cajuns made sure to take the free points whenever they could. The Cajuns would go 11-14 from the line during the final two plus minutes of the game, to help them maintain their lead. Any basket made by Arkansas State during those final minutes was nullified by the Cajuns great shooting from the line a free throw from Goodwin put the Cajuns up by seven, which is the winning scoring margin that Louisiana would take the game with, as the final score sat at 60-53.
NOTEWORTHY: Fields scored 10 points in the game which gives her 1,254 points which puts her eighth all-time in Cajuns history passing Anna Petrakova on the list; The 25 turnovers are the most the Cajuns have caused in a SBC game this season; Louisiana shot 73 percent from the line (78 percent in the fourth quarter) and that's the best they've shot in a conference game this season.
UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana wraps up their season with one final game against Little Rock on Saturday, Mar. 3. The game, starting at 4 p.m. is also senior night for four Cajuns, Fields, Swain, Nekia Jones and Kendra Howard so make sure to come out and celebrate the Cajuns' seniors.
Little Rock Takes Care of ULM on the Road, 71-47
MONROE, La. – A few days after winning the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship for the second consecutive year, Little Rock women's basketball earned a 71-47 victory over ULM on Thursday evening at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The Trojans (19-9, 16-1 Sun Belt) had four players in double figures as Tori Lasker, Yanina Inkina, Keanna Keys and Ronjanae DeGray each scored 12 points. Keys led Little Rock with six rebounds while DeGray and Inkina each tallied four. Kyra Collier led the Trojans with five assists in addition to four points and two rebounds. Little Rock shot 55.2 percent (32-for-58) from the field, 57.1 percent (4-for-7) from three and was 3-for-5 from the foul line.
Arsula Clark led the game with 21 points for the Warhawks (4-24, 1-16 Sun Belt). In addition to her point total, Clark led ULM with six rebounds, five assists and three steals. The Warhawks ended the game shooting 35.2 percent (19-for-54) from the field, 25.0 percent (5-for-20) from three and 4-for-6 from the foul line.
Entering the fourth quarter with an 18-point lead, Little Rock finished the game with a 24-point lead — its largest of the game. The Trojans outscored the Warhawks 22-16 in the period while shooting a game-high 66.7 percent (10-for-15). ULM also had its best-shooting quarter of the night at 46.7 percent (7-for-15). Inkina led the Trojans with five points in the final 10 minutes of action.
Little Rock and ULM both scored 12 points in the third period as the Trojans went 6-for-12 from the field. Keys and Terrion Moore each put up four points for Little Rock while Keys had a quarter-high four rebounds and two blocks.
After getting outscored 22-7 in the first quarter, the Warhawks showed some fight in the second as the Trojans held a narrow 15-12 advantage in scoring for the period. Little Rock shot 53.8 percent (7-for-13) in the period while ULM shot 36.4 (4-for-11). Lasker led the quarter with five points while Collier tallied three assists to go along with a basket. Both sides were neck and neck in the period as neither side had a run of more than four points. Of Little Rock's 16 baskets in the first half, 10 had an assist.
Little Rock began the game with a big 22-7 lead over ULM after shooting 50 percent (9-for-18) while holding the Warhawks to a game-low 23.1 percent (3-for-13). The Trojans began the game on a 13-0 run before the Warhawks responded with a layup. Inkina and Lasker each put up seven points for the quarter while Inkina led the quarter with four rebounds. Little Rock had a big 13-6 advantage in rebounds for the period.
Moore finished the game with four assists, four rebounds, six points and a team-high two steals. Monique Townson had five points, three assists and four rebounds in 21 minutes. Raeyana DeGray and Teal Battle each had points and a rebound.
The Trojans had a 37-26 advantage in rebounds and an 18-9 advantage in assists for the game.
Little Rock will play its final game of the regular season on Saturday as it visits the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. Opening tip is set for 4 p.m.
KINES SCORES 23, ELLIS 20, HELP LEAD WOMEN’S BASKETBALL OVER GEORGIA SOUTHERN IN OVERTIME
STATESBORO, Ga. – Behind four with double-figure points, the University of South Alabama women's basketball team (17-11, 10-7 SBC) survives in overtime against Georgia Southern (5-23, 2-15 SBC), 81-74, on Thursday in Statesboro.
Trailing by seven with 6:11 left in the game, the Jags went on a 9-0 run to take a two-point lead with 1:42 to go. After holding the Eagles scoreless for nearly six minutes, Nicola Franks made a layup and a free-throw on an and-one to put Georgia Southern up by a point with 21 ticks remaining. Antoinette Lewis was fouled at the other end and made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line to tie it up. The Jags held down the Eagles to force overtime.
In the extra period, South Alabama scored 11 of the 15 points to take the game by a seven-point margin.
Shaforia Kines led all scorers with 23 points, a career-high, on an 8-of-12 shooting night, including 4-for-7 from three-point range. The sophomore also collected three rebounds, had three takeaways and assisted on a shot.
Chyna Ellis scored 20 points and collected 10 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. The senior center went 8-of-10 from the field, making one three-pointer, and blocked six shots, tied for the most by an opponent at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Lewis and Savannah Jones rounded out the Jags in double-figures with 12 points each. Lewis went 4-of-7 from the field, 4-of-6 from the charity-stripe, grabbed eight boards and rejected a shot in the win.
Jones scored her 12 making 4-of-10 shots and going a perfect 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. The redshirt freshman guard also brought down a career-high eight rebounds and assisted on three made buckets.
The Eagles are three players with 10 or more points, led by 19 from Nakol Franks of the bench and 18 from Alexis Brown.
MURPHY AND HENRY SCORE 25 EACH IN PANTHER VICTORY
ATLANTA – Georgia State’s women’s basketball team took down Troy 85-78 Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena behind a pair of 25-point scorers in Janessa Murphy and Kierra Henry.
For the second time this season, Murphy sank seven 3-pointers in a game and finished with 25 points. Both times were against the Trojans. Henry’s 25 points came with eight rebounds which led the team.
Madison Newby had another good night, tallying 19 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. Newby went to the free throw line 13 times and made 11.
Georgia State outscored the Trojans in three of four quarters including a game-ending 28-18 run in the final period.
Troy won the rebounding game, but both sides finished with 36 points in the paint and GSU held Troy to only 13 second-chance points on 21 offensive rebounds.
As a team, GSU shot 42% from the field and went 21-for-31 at the free throw line. The Panther defense also came up big with 12 steals and 21 points off turnovers.
GSU trailed Troy with 7:08 left in the game. That’s when the Panthers launched a 20-8 run over the next six minutes, draining the clock and earning a big win at home.
With the win, Georgia State will be the 10-seed at next week's Sun Belt Championships. The Panthers will play in the 6 p.m. ET game on Tuesday in New Orleans.
Georgia State will play its final home game of the season Saturday against South Alabama at noon in the GSU Sports Arena.