Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball Conference Preview

LAFAYETTE – Looking to build on a great finish to the 2016-17 season, where a second-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference tournament capped off a great run, a plan was hatched to get the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team ready for the 2017-18 conference season.

The Cajuns plan was to navigate through arguably the toughest non-conference schedule the school has faced in half a decade.

Unfortunately for the Cajuns they were bit hard by the injury bug throughout the entire first two months of the season, meaning that head coach Garry Brodhead had to dig deep into his roster to find players who could step up sooner than expected and help them get through a tough first two months.

The flip side of that means that the roster has deepened with experience as the Cajuns head into Sun Belt Conference play, which kicks off this weekend with a trip on Dec. 29 to Little Rock, Ark.

"I thought the first two months were tough with all the injuries we had," said Brodhead. "But that was the good thing about the non-conference schedule that we played. It allowed some of the young kids to get some playing time."

That experience earned by the younger players on the roster, means that the Cajuns, as they get healthier, are more than ready to play through their conference season.

Two younger players that stepped up for the Cajuns were freshmen Skyler Goodwin and Ty'Reonne Doucet. Goodwin, stepping in for sophomore Jasmine Thomas, Louisiana's injured point guard, and Doucet who played heavy minutes at the center position, both showed what they can do and got better as the months went along.

"We thought Goodwin would be a two or three guard but because of the injury situation we had to put her at the point and I thought she stepped up and played great," said Brodhead. "And now that Jasmine is back, and we can move her from the wing to the point without worrying about losing much gives us a solid back-up point guard as Jasmine works back into game shape."

Goodwin has put in work for the Cajuns and she's currently fourth in the conference in minutes played (34.3) and her 11.7 points per game is leading the Cajuns and it places her 14th in the conference.

"Ty has produced for us whenever we inserted her into the lineup and a lot of that comes from her knowing what we need her to do out on the court," said Brodhead. "She works hard in practice and she's a talented player. She's a strong rebounder, something we want, which is an added factor for us, since she can score down low as well."

Doucet's hard work paid off recently, in their final non-conference game against Alcorn State Doucet, coming off the bench in just 19 minutes of action, recorded a double-double scoring 16 points and snagging 11 rebounds.

Along with the younger players stepping up in big roles, there has been some consistency from a familiar face. Senior Simone Fields enters the conference season having battled through her own nagging injuries to put together a solid first two months of the season.

She scored her 1,000th career point at Toledo in the Cajuns third game of the season and she's currently tied for third in the conference in field goal percentage shooting 50 percent. Fields sits 21st in the conference in scoring and 17th in the conference in rebounding averaging 5.3 boards a night to give the Cajuns a steady presence down low.

Through the first two months of the season Louisiana has played in a few tough arenas through their non-conference stretch. They played in front of 2,500 fans at Texas A&M and in Jackson, Miss., the Cajuns played No. 6 Mississippi State in front of almost 3,500 fans.

Thanks to those to tough environments the Cajuns visited, "we've gotten some great experience on the road," said Brodhead. "Which means that the kids got great experience playing in front of some big crowds." The Cajuns will be ready to take on their conference foes no matter where the game takes place.

It's a tough conference to navigate with players who come to play every night, and no matchup can be taken lightly, "every game is a chess match," said Brodhead. "Each team has their own little niche that they run and believe in. It's a difficult league because every game is different and there's different matchups they you face changing the way that you play."

Louisiana begins to navigate their conference slate with the Arkansas swing, facing Little Rock (Dec. 29) and Arkansas State (Dec. 31). They'll return home for three-games welcoming Appalachian State (Jan. 4), Coastal Carolina (Jan. 6) and ULM on Jan. 13.

Their next big road trip are the Texas schools, heading to UT-Arlington on Jan. 18 and Texas State (Jan. 20). Following that they'll welcome the Alabama schools to the Cajundome playing South Alabama on Jan. 25 and they'll wrap up the month of January playing Troy on Jan. 27 which is a rematch of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship game.

A three-game road swing kicks off the month of February, starting with a quick drive north to Monroe, La. to face ULM on Feb. 3. The next weekend is a trip to Georgia where the Cajuns will face off with Georgia State (Feb. 8) and Georgia Southern (Feb. 10). Louisiana returns to the Cajundome to host Texas State (Feb. 15) and UT-Arlington (Feb. 17).

The Cajuns final road trip of the season is a trip to Alabama to face Troy on Feb. 22 and South Alabama on Feb. 24. Louisiana finishes off the regular season hosting Arkansas State (Mar. 1) and Little Rock (Mar. 3). They'll then head to New Orleans to see if they can repeat their magic from the previous season at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament starting on Mar. 6.

"I think this year is wide open in the league, and as far as who's going to be the team to beat it could be anyone," said Brodhead. "Every night you've got to come out and play no matter where you are. I'm excited to get out on the floor against some of the tough competition in this league and see what we can do against these teams."

There was a master plan entering the season for the Cajuns to build on their finish, but they were slightly derailed by injuries. But Louisiana never lost sight of their end goals, a Sun Belt Championship, and their next man up mentality means that as the conference season rolls along the Cajuns bench has already been prepared to play important minutes whenever they're called upon.

Seems like that plan played out slightly different than originally expected, but things do seem to work out in mysterious ways.

#GEAUXCAJUNS

Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball Conference Preview

Players Mentioned

Ty'Reona Doucet

Simone Fields

Skyler Goodwin

Jasmine Thomas

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