University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Saturday, March 5
Lafayette
5 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
20-9, 13-7SBC
56
vs
49
Georgia Southern
7-22, 4-16SBC
1
2
3
4
F
Georgia Southern
6
14
9
20
49
Louisiana
9
22
18
7
56
Cajuns Clinch SBC Tourney No. 3 Seed with Win over Eagles
3/5/2016 8:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Cajuns (20-9, 13-7 SBC) with back-to-back 20-win seasons for first time in program history
LAFAYETTE -- The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team secured the No. 3 seed in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 56-49 win over Georgia Southern on Senior Day at the Cajundome Saturday.
The win improved the Cajuns' record to 20-9 and 13-7 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns ended the regular season with a 11-3 mark at home.
"It's [back-to-back 20-win seasons) a great feat and the kids we have right now that have helped get this program to where it is today is the proud thing for me," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. It's a lot of hard work and you have to go through the bad and the good times, and now we are reaping those benefits."
Seniors Keke Veal (17 points) and Kia Wilridge (12 points) finished the day as the Cajuns leading scorers. Wilridge moved into sixth place on UL's all-time scoring list with 1,204 points, passing Alyson Habetz.
"Kia [Wilridge] has worked extremely hard on her game from Day 1 and she's been like that since high school," Brodhead said. It's great to see her reap some of those benefits. She is such a team player and it's important to have those types a kids when you're trying to build a winning culture. She really worked hard at her offense and has always been a good defensive player. She has contributed in so many categories for this program."
Louisiana led for all but 1:32 of the contest and never trailed. Their largest lead stood at 25 points (49-24) with 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Cajuns led by four points on two separate occasions in the first quarter. After Simone Fields' jumper made it 6-2 with nearly 4 ½ minutes remaining, Georgia Southern evened the score at 6-6 following four straight points by Patrice Butler.
A low-scoring affair in the opening quarter saw the Cajuns leading 9-6. Louisiana started off with a slow shooting performance, hitting just 4-of-15 shots (26.7%).
Their lead ballooned to as many as 11 points in the second quarter, courtesy of a pair of three-pointers by junior Sylvana Okde and a trey from Wilridge.
Angel McGowan sank a three with 2:02 left in the second to cut the Cajuns' lead to single digits at 26-18, but Wilridge scored the final five points of the half and put Louisiana ahead, 31-18 at the intermission.
The Cajuns received 10 bench points in the second quarter.
Georgia Southern was unable pull closer than 15 points in the third quarter. The Cajuns' lead stood at as many as 25 (49-24).
The fourth quarter was much similar to the third quarter, as the Cajuns maintained a comfortable, double-digit advantage for the majority of the stanza. The closest Georgia Southern closed the gap was nine points at 55-46 with 1:06 to go.
The Cajuns were limited to seven points in the fourth , receiving two points each from Veal, junior Gabby Alexander and freshman Jordan Alexander.
The Cajuns held a 35-30 advantage in rebounds and came up with nine steals on the defensive end. They parlayed 18 Georgia Southern turnovers into 18 points. The Cajuns' bench chipped in 18 points on the evening.
The Cajuns hold the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seeded UT Arlington next Wednesday, March 9 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The game can be watched on ESPN3.
The win improved the Cajuns' record to 20-9 and 13-7 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns ended the regular season with a 11-3 mark at home.
"It's [back-to-back 20-win seasons) a great feat and the kids we have right now that have helped get this program to where it is today is the proud thing for me," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. It's a lot of hard work and you have to go through the bad and the good times, and now we are reaping those benefits."
Seniors Keke Veal (17 points) and Kia Wilridge (12 points) finished the day as the Cajuns leading scorers. Wilridge moved into sixth place on UL's all-time scoring list with 1,204 points, passing Alyson Habetz.
"Kia [Wilridge] has worked extremely hard on her game from Day 1 and she's been like that since high school," Brodhead said. It's great to see her reap some of those benefits. She is such a team player and it's important to have those types a kids when you're trying to build a winning culture. She really worked hard at her offense and has always been a good defensive player. She has contributed in so many categories for this program."
Louisiana led for all but 1:32 of the contest and never trailed. Their largest lead stood at 25 points (49-24) with 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The Cajuns led by four points on two separate occasions in the first quarter. After Simone Fields' jumper made it 6-2 with nearly 4 ½ minutes remaining, Georgia Southern evened the score at 6-6 following four straight points by Patrice Butler.
A low-scoring affair in the opening quarter saw the Cajuns leading 9-6. Louisiana started off with a slow shooting performance, hitting just 4-of-15 shots (26.7%).
Their lead ballooned to as many as 11 points in the second quarter, courtesy of a pair of three-pointers by junior Sylvana Okde and a trey from Wilridge.
Angel McGowan sank a three with 2:02 left in the second to cut the Cajuns' lead to single digits at 26-18, but Wilridge scored the final five points of the half and put Louisiana ahead, 31-18 at the intermission.
The Cajuns received 10 bench points in the second quarter.
Georgia Southern was unable pull closer than 15 points in the third quarter. The Cajuns' lead stood at as many as 25 (49-24).
The fourth quarter was much similar to the third quarter, as the Cajuns maintained a comfortable, double-digit advantage for the majority of the stanza. The closest Georgia Southern closed the gap was nine points at 55-46 with 1:06 to go.
The Cajuns were limited to seven points in the fourth , receiving two points each from Veal, junior Gabby Alexander and freshman Jordan Alexander.
The Cajuns held a 35-30 advantage in rebounds and came up with nine steals on the defensive end. They parlayed 18 Georgia Southern turnovers into 18 points. The Cajuns' bench chipped in 18 points on the evening.
The Cajuns hold the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6 seeded UT Arlington next Wednesday, March 9 for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The game can be watched on ESPN3.
Team Stats
GSOU
UL
FG%
.400
.393
3FG%
.286
.250
FT%
.700
.667
RB
30
35
TO
18
11
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballPG
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