NEW ORLEANS - Troi Swain scored 20 points, six of which from the charity strip, in a 54-48 win over second-seeded UTA on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Women's Basketball tournament at Lakefront Arena.
Swan was 6-of-13 from the field, including two three-pointers and pulled down seven rebounds in the victory.
The win for the Ragin' Cajuns (17-15) avenged two regular season losses to the Mavericks (18-12).
Louisiana shot only 30 percent (15-of-42) from the flood but made 21 of its 30 free throw attempts and had five times as many attempts at the free throw line than UTA (six).
The Mavericks also committed 21 turnovers which led to 23 Cajun points. The Cajuns led for nearly 37 minutes in the game compared to just 24 seconds for the Mavericks.
Skyler Goodwin added 15 points for Louisiana.
The Ragin' Cajuns advance to Saturday's semifinals where they will take on No. 2 Texas State at 7:30 p.m. (CT).
All-Sun Belt First Team selection, Rebekah VanDijk, had the games only double-double with 18 points and ten rebounds. She was 8-of-12 from the floor in her final Sun Belt contest.
UTA Notes
• Rebekah VanDijk’s four blocks pushed her career total to 203, making her the second/ninth player in UTA/Sun Belt history with at least 200 blocks.
• Rebekah VanDijk’s 10 rebounds pushed her career total to 1,120, the sixth best in Sun Belt Conference history.
• Rebekah VanDijk’s had more blocks (4) than the entire Louisiana team (2).
• UTA were held to a season low four made free throw on six attempts (another season low).
Louisiana Notes
• Louisiana’s 14 steals was a season high.
• Louisiana was 1/6 from the field in the fourth quarter.
• Ty’Reona Doucet had a career high four steals.
• Louisiana moved to 5-1 when they allow 49 points or fewer.
Quotes
Louisiana Head Coach Garry Brodhead
Opening Statement:
“It’s exciting to continue to survive these tough games. I thought we played really well. I thought our offense, even though we didn’t score in the last nine minutes the last time we played UTA, improved today. We didn’t score a field goal through the last six minutes. The improvement was there. We knocked down some free throws when we needed to. The most important thing for us is to make stops. Our defense got going because in the first and fourth quarters we were able to get some scores and kind of control the first and fourth quarters so I was proud of our kids. I thought we did a good job, defensively, and then taking care of the ball. I know we ended up with thirteen or fourteen turnovers but for us that’s pretty good. I thought we did a good job taking care of it and taking some pretty good shots so I’m proud of the kids.”
On being able to win the game without being able to shoot a field goal late in the game:
“It shows some character. I always say for as long as I’ve been coaching, when you get in tournaments the tougher teams usually win. I think that’s what we have in our team. Since we got to UL we’ve tried to create a tough team and I thought they showed it today. If you’re tough and you can fight through a lot of the adversity… we take pride in it. I was so excited for the young players tonight and the seniors to show up and show the toughness that we’re made of. I’m proud of them. It’s a tough game. Basketball is a lot tougher than people think. That’s what it is. Our toughness is able to get us over maybe not being as talented as the other team.”
On team fatigue going into this game after multiple overtime games:
“(We weren’t really worried about fatigue.) We went out the next morning instead of waiting and practicing that afternoon. We went out the next morning and we practiced and I thought we did a pretty good job of doing some walk throughs. We started to get up and down in our transition game and I could tell that they were moving a little bit better as we did them. We only went for an hour and a half, but we incorporated some stretching. I’m an ex-track athlete so I really believe in trying to move the muscles and all that. We stretched them and we had a coaches’ stretch with them after. I thought that was kind of big. Each grabbed a player and we really stretched good and after our strength coach and athletic trainers got them in ice baths. We actually did it two days in a row and they were more concerned than I was. It’s all a mental game. You can fight though fatigue and all that, especially with the number of kids we’re playing. I thought we’d been playing around ten. Maybe we didn’t play as many tonight, but they’ll play with a lot of effort. It’s the end of the year. This is it. You’re back’s against the wall so you’re able to fight through things. I really wasn’t concerned about it. Now if we had another three overtimes that would be tough. I like the way it’s set up for us where we get a day off tomorrow before we play again on Saturday. Hopefully we play on Sunday, but ask me again Sunday. That might be a situation.”
UTA Head Coach Krista Gerlich
Opening Statement:
Congratulations to UL and obviously this time of year it’s survive and advance and they certainly did that. I think Coach Broadhead does a great job and it’s always a great battle between us. I am really proud of our girls for fighting through a lot of adversity. There were a lot of things out of their control and they played as hard as they could, I thought. Maybe we missed a few shots that obviously we’d like to go down, but I also thought we did some things really, really well. We battled, and we’d get down and find a way to get back in it. I thought Miranda LeJune’s three was really big, when she knocked that down and tied it up, and Aysia hit a big three as well to cut it back to two. Rebekah was incredible tonight just like she’s always been for four years, and I probably hate it the most for her and the seniors because they deserve to be playing on Saturday. It’s a tough way to go out.
Having seen Louisiana twice already, was it more difficult to get past what they were doing?
“Yes, I think it is tough to beat a team three times and we always have great battles with Lafayette. I think both teams are really defensive-oriented and both do a good job of making the other team find ways to score. When two teams know each other so well it is hard to get creative, and you don’t want do get away from the things you do, you just have to find ways to do it better.
UTA Senior Center Rebekah VanDijk
On changes she made to be more dominant tonight:
“I think I just really focused. I wasn’t ready to go home, so for me I was like, I have to play hard. I think a lot of times I tried to be really physical with Jones inside, and she’s a little bit shorter, so I had a little bit of an easier time just jumping over her instead of trying to push her back sometimes. The guards really just kept feeding me the ball which was good, so I think they gave me a chance and they really believed in me.”
On competing as a female athlete on International Women’s Day:
“I think it’s amazing that we’ve reached this point in our society, or just in life, that you get the ability to do this. I think God has blessed us with that, and I just think it’s awesome to have those opportunities. I’m a small town girl and not everyone gets those opportunities, so it’s just really a blessing.”