Cajuns To Battle Louisiana Tech in Ruston This Weekend

Game 9 - Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (7-1) vs. Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (4-5)
Series History: Louisiana Tech leads 39-1
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 • 6 p.m. (CST) • Thomas Assembly Center – Ruston, La.
Media: Live Stats l Live Video l Radio: ESPN1420 (Jay Walker)
Twitter Updates: @ULRaginCajuns • @RaginCajunWBB
Louisiana Women's Basketball Home Page l Louisiana Tech Women's Basketball Home Page
Louisiana Game Notes

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team (7-1) is in search of their sixth win in a row and the program's first 8-1 start in consecutive seasons when it travels to Ruston, La., this Saturday night to take on Louisiana Tech.

The Cajuns, winners of eight out of their last nine non-conference games, are first in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring margin at plus-19.0 points per game. They are averaging 69.6 points and allowing an average of 50.6 points to opponents through eight games.

Last season, the Cajuns defeated Louisiana Tech 58-55 at E.K. Long Gym on Nov. 22. It was the first win over the Lady Techsters in the history of the Louisiana program. In that historic win over Louisiana Tech, Kia Wilridge (18 points) and Jaylyn Gordon (15 points) finished as the Cajuns top two scorers.

SETTING THE SCENE: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (7-1) continue to wind down their 2015-16 non-conference schedule with a trip to Ruston, La., to face Louisiana Tech this Saturday, Dec. 19 at 6 p.m. Louisiana looks to pick up their second straight win over Louisiana Tech after defeating the Lady Techsters last season 58-55 at E.K. Long Gym.
The Cajuns are in search of their eighth win in first nine games to start the campaign for the second consecutive season. The defense yielded just 42 points (third-lowest total this season) to UC Santa Barbara last Tuesday at the Cajundome.
Louisiana Tech senior forward Brandi Wingate, the reigning Conference USA Player of the Week, averaged 25.5 points and 5.0 rebounds last week against the University of Arizona and Mississippi State. Her 16.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game are team highs. She is shooting 58.4% (52-of-89) from the floor in just 27.6 minutes per game.

COACH BRODHEAD AT THE HELM: Louisiana head coach Garry Brodhead is in his fourth season at the helm of the Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball program, finishing with 23 wins last season, the most in a single season since 2006-07 (25). Brodhead guided the team to 15 victories at home in 2014-15, a program record. He is currently the third-winningest head coach in Cajuns history (54). He needs four wins to pass Ross Cook (57) for second on the program's all-time list.

CAJUNS IN THE RANKINGS: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team held onto its spot at No. 19 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, released Tuesday evening. The Cajuns garnered 167 total points in this week's rankings and are one of three Sun Belt Conference schools among the Top 25 (No. 11 Arkansas State, No. 20 Little Rock).

WELCOME BACK: Returning from redshirt seasons are senior Brooklyn Arceneaux and junior Sylvana Okde. In 2013-14, Okde averaged 10.9 points and drained a team-high 74 three-pointers. That season, Arceneaux finished as the team's second-leading scorer (among players in at least 25 games played) averaging 10.5 points and adding 5.2 rebounds per contest. Arceneaux has averaged 4.1 points and 3.9 rebounds (tied for third on team) in six games as a starter and eight games overall. She is shooting 38.9% (14-of-36) from the floor, the third-highest percentage among Cajuns with at least 30 shot attempts. Okde has appeared in three games this season. She scored two points and picked up an assist in six minutes in the win over Dillard last Saturday.

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!: Through eight games this season, the Cajuns are ranked first in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 50.6 points per game. They are allowing 5.0 points less per than South Alabama (55.6 points per game), who is currently ranked second in the conference in that category.

WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE: Through the first eight games of the season, the Ragin' Cajuns have finished with fewer turnovers than their opponents in each contest.

WILRIDGE CRASHING THE BOARDS: Cajuns senior guard Kia Wilridge set a new career record with 13 rebounds in the 61-42 win over UC Santa Barbara. Five of her 13 boards were offensive rebounds, tying her career high (Jan. 18, 2014 vs. Troy and Nov. 12, 2012 vs. LSU-Shreveport).

GORDON FROM DEEP: Junior guard Jaylyn Gordon enters the week leading the Sun Belt Conference with 22 three-point field goals, an average of 2.8 per game. Last season she made 73 three-pointers in 34 games, an average of 2.1 per contest.

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: The Cajuns are currently outscoring opponents by an average of 19.0 points per game (69.6-50.6 average), which is first in the Sun Belt Conference. Nationally, the Cajuns are ranked 32nd in scoring margin this season.

VEAL SEEING DOUBLE: Senior guard Keke Veal has scored in double-figures in 22-straight games dating back to last season.

WHAT'S NEXT?: The Cajuns are off until Dec. 29 when they welcome Alcorn State to Lafayette for a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Cajundome.

Cajuns To Battle Louisiana Tech in Ruston This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Brooklyn Arceneaux

Jaylyn Gordon

Sylvana Okde

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge

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