PENSACOLA, Fla. – Top-seeded Louisiana kept its hot streak going Saturday afternoon, rolling past South Alabama, 65-46, in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center.
With the win - Louisiana's 14th straight victory - the Ragin' Cajuns (15-5) now take on Little Rock (15-10), the No. 3 seed from the West, in the semifinals Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Pensacola Bay Center. Little Rock advanced by defeating Georgia State, 75-68, in the other quarterfinal Saturday afternoon.
Louisiana never let the Jaguars get going, harassing South Alabama into missing its first seven shots and racing out to an 11-0 lead in the opening five minutes. The Jaguars did close to within 11-7, but the Ragin' Cajuns scored six of the quarter's final eight points to take a 17-9 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
"I thought the start of the game was what we wanted," said Louisiana head coach Garry Brodhead. "We went in and out of our press and controlled the tempo through most of the game. We played good team defense today and that set the tone for us, I think. We also did a good job of limiting them to one shot, which is good because rebounding has been our Achilles' heel sometimes."
The Ragin' Cajuns extended their lead to 33-18 by halftime despite making only 11 of their 32 shots overall (34.4 percent). The mitigating factors were that Louisiana was 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) from three-point range, outrebounded South Alabama, 28-16, and limited South Alabama to just 7-for-27 shooting (25.9 percent) in the first half.
"We had a slow start today," said South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler. "When you're down to seven players like we are, you need to get going quickly and then feed off the energy. We were able to do that against Arkansas State (Friday), but we couldn't today. We just got tired and didn't have the legs we needed to make the shots."
Brandi Williams led the Ragin' Cajuns with 11 points in the first half.
The third quarter was played on fairly even terms, as South Alabama got no closer than 10 points, but Louisiana never led by more than 17. When the buzzer sounded to end the period, the Ragin' Cajuns led, 46-32. Louisiana finally landed a knockout punch early in the final quarter, scoring the first five points of the period to go up 51-32 and cruise to the victory from there.
"When you have a bye, you always worry about how you're going to play in the first game of the tournament," said Brodhead. "Sometimes, teams that get byes can get comfortable and you can't do that. Sometimes having a bye can be a curse."
Jomyra Mathis led Louisiana with 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Williams had 14 points, Ty'Reona Doucet just missed a double-double with nine points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Makayia Hallmon had nine and Kimberly Burton stuffed the stat sheet with four points, nine rebounds and three steals.
"In years past, we've tried to play catch-up with other teams in this conference," said Brodhead. "This year, things are different. We've had a great season so far, but I'm glad we've had the experiences we've had. When you're the hunted, there's a tendency to feel some pressure, but the kids don't feel that pressure."
Mahogany Vaught was South Alabama's leading scorer with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Antoinette Lewis had a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots and four assists and Janelle Jones added 11 points in the loss.
South Alabama - which knocked off Arkansas State, 73-64, in the opening round on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals - finishes its season at 13-13.