The Book: Lady Cajuns 2007-08 basketball

[lcitsh]

I'll see you folks this Wednesday, 4:30 @ the Dome.

[Jeaux]

We lost?

Bad news: Mercer was 5-25 last year

Good news: Mercer is 2-0 this year.

Bad news: Mercers other win came against South Carolina State who was 7-22 last year.

Good news: Our next opponent doesn't have a win yet.

Bad news: UL's next opponent was 21-9 last year.

Good news: UL was 25-8 last year.

Bad news: This isn't last year.

O.K. no more news until Wednesday. My head is starting to spin.

[Hammer58]

_ Just wanted to wish the Ragin Cajuns good luck today and for the rest of the season. Hope they can win it all. We will be watching and cheering for the ladies. Make us Proud.

Former Headragincajun _

Thanks Coach and good luck to you and your squad.

[OLF82]

_ Does anyone know if Elaine McCants is still on the team ? I read the article and it mentioned her, and she's on the roster, but I heard rumor she's no longer on the team.

I guess the game today, won't be on internet radio ?

Thanks,

Geaux Cajuns !!! Beat Mercer !!! _

I don't know, but I did see her at the volleyball game Saturday night. Considering the basketball game was Sunday at 2:00, she evidently didn't make the trip with the team. I guess we'll see Wednesday if she's around.

[NewsCopy]

Things may be a little easier for UL's women's basketball team tonight than they were one week ago. But not much. The Cajuns struggled against the then fifth-ranked LSU Tigers in a 72-37 loss at the Assembly Center in Baton Rouge last Wednesday, and were dunked on - LSU's Sylvia Fowles became the fifth player to dunk in an NCAA women's game. "I wanted to smile, too, but I couldn't at the time," said UL coach Errol Rogers. "I thought I was part of history. It's great for women's basketball." No one's dunking tonight for either team, but the Cajun squad will still have a big challenge on its hands from Tulane's Green Wave in a7 p.m. tipoff at Long Gym. The Wave is 5-1 and has won four in a row, including two victories in the Cancun Caribbean Challenge over Kansas State and Northern Illinois last week. "They're a very good team," said Rogers, whose squad is 1-3 with its only win over Division II Arkansas-Monticello. "They can be every bit as tough as LSU and Ole Miss if we don't play well." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Turbine]

Elaine McCants still can't fully extend her elbow, but I have a sneaky suspicion she will be a factor tonight.

When Elaine McCants and Jeanenne Colbert got in their wreck a few years ago it really put a kink in what coach Hall had planned to do which if I recall t was to send layer after layer of up-tempo pressure.

I know coach Hall had planned to structure things around Elaine. Stating at 1 point she would be a new experience. He also said she' was a legitimate big-time player that he expected a lot out of.

I don't know what she will be able to do tonight but I really respect her for not giving up after all she went through.

Even with her ongoing arm problem I have a feeling she will be able to give coach Rogers a bit of that "up-tempo pressure" that coach Hall was after.

[mycoskiemedia]

I was off tonight and CW had the Cajundome as the venue instead of Earl K. Long (argh). But here are the highlights anyway:
http://www.kadn.com/sports/11906611.html

[NewsCopy]

Tulane's women's basketball team had a size advantage, and the Green Wave and Brittany Lindsey took full advantage Wednesday night at Long Gym. To UL coach Errol Rogers, that size advantage shouldn't have made as much of a difference as the Wave's 89-61 final margin indicated. "It wasn't the size," Rogers said after his team dropped its Long Gym opener. "If you play defense the way we did tonight, anybody in the country can score. We didn't do anything that we'd asked them to do defensively." Tulane had not topped 70 points in any of its first six games and came in shooting 40.1 percent from the field. On Wednesday, the Green Wave scored 27 points more than their season average and hit at a 54 percent clip. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Zeebart21]

my stomach hurts.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA - The Lady Cajuns basketball team will hit the road for a game with Centenary on Saturday, Dec. 1, at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, La. The Cajuns will be looking to break their five-game road losing streak against non-conference opponents. The Cajuns (1-4) last won a game against a non-conference came on Nov. 30, 2006 at Texas Southern. UL downed the Lady Tigers 82-48. The Lady Cajuns are 4-0 against the Ladies all-time. In the last meeting between the two schools, UL topped Centenary 67-42 at Earl K. Long Gym on Dec. 1, 2004. Currently seniors Onna Charles (New Iberia, La.), Sonora Edwards (Snook, Texas) and Alicia McDaniel (Houston, Texas) all played double-digit minutes in the game. Edwards posted 13 points and nine rebounds, while Charles added nine points and McDaniel, while not attempting any field goals, did grab a pair of rebounds. The last time the two teams met away from Lafayette, the Cajuns took a 74-60 victory on Dec. 8, 2003. The game was the closest contested of any of the four all-time meetings. The Ragin’ Cajuns enter the game led by a pair of upper classmen. Edwards currently leads the team with 12.0 points per game this season, while adding a team best 7.2 rebounds per game. She is followed closely by junior Whitney Dunlap (Baton Rouge, La.) who boasts an 11.8 average. Senior Elaine McCants (Boston, Mass.) saw her first action on the hardwood in over two years. The transfer, who missed the previous two years following a car crash prior to her first season at UL, scored 10 points off of the bench in 12 minutes of action against Tulane. QUICK HITS 1,000-point watch: Onna Charles and Sonora Edwards both enter the season within sight of 1,000 career points. Charles sits just 76 points shy, while Edwards needs 227 more points to reach the coveted plateau. The Cajuns have 11 players who have scored over 1,000 points in their career. Yolanda Jones (2006-07), who ranks sixth on the list, was the most recent addition to the 1,000-point club scoring 1,090 points in her two-year career with the Cajuns. And the Record Goes To?!?: Alicia McDaniel is 17 games played away from the all-time mark. She sits just nine games shy of tying Monica Fisher (1992-96) for 10th all-time with 106 games. Onna Charles needs one game started to move into a tie for sixth place with Ashley Blanche (2002-2006) at 83 games. Charles needs 67 field goals to crack the career top 10. She currently has 337 baskets in her career. Sonora Edwards, currently seventh, is 464 rebounds away from the all-time Cajuns record. However, she sits 156 rebounds from tying Anna Petrakova (2001-05) for second all-time. She is just 25 boards shy of tying Anne DeMahy (1977-80) for sixth. RaginCajuns.com Chris Whitehead

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana defeated Centenary College on Saturday afternoon at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City by a final score of 78-71. UL led for all but the first 83 seconds of the first half and finished the opening 20 minutes with a 37-26 lead. Despite a few close calls, the Lady Cajuns never trailed in the second half. A 12-5 spurt to begin the second half carried the Cajuns lead up to 17 points, 49-32, with 15:49 to play in the game. Sonora Edwards scored three baskets in the paint during the stretch. Following the second media timeout, the Ladies scored seven points in 44 seconds to cut the Cajuns lead under double-digits for the first time in the second stanza. Whitney Dunlap drilled a three-point basket from the top of the arc to get the Cajuns lead to 60-49 at the midway point of the half. It was the first successful three-pointer that Centenary had allowed in the last 25 attempts against the Ladies. A three-point play by Edwards extended the Cajuns lead to 12 points, 63-51, with 8:38 to play. The Ladies then used a 13-3 run over the next 2:53 to diminish the Cajuns lead all the way down to just two points, 66-64. Elaine McCants calmly buried a triple from the wing to provide some breathing room and kick start a 7-0 run. Alicia McDaniel and Edwards each followed with baskets inside to propel the Cajuns to a nine-point edge at the 3:43 mark. Louisiana answered every basket by Centenary the rest of the game to ensure the win. Edwards led the Cajuns with 26 points and 10 rebounds. McDaniel chipped in 15 points, eight boards, six assists, five steals and two blocks. Dunlap was the only other Cajun in double figures with 12 points. UL shot 49.2 percent for the game and won the boards, owning a 44-35 edge. The Ladies were paced by Cierra Bush, who scored 24 points and led all players with 12 rebounds. The Cajuns started quickly, enjoying a 15-2 run to start the contest. After the Ladies scored the games first basket, the Cajuns followed with seven straight buckets to grab a 13-point edge at the 14:47 mark. Edwards had three baskets during the run, while McDaniel scored five points with a jumper and a three-point play. The Ladies countered with a 16-5 burst to cut the Cajuns lead down to two points, 20-18, with 8:58 left in the first half. Coach Rogers immediately called timeout and it helped, as Edwards and Kina Miller scored on back-to-back possessions. Miller then knocked down a pair from the stripe and D’Mya Clay hit a driving lay-up to give the Cajuns back a double-figure lead, 28-18, with 5:52 showing in the first half. Centenary surged back, outscoring their guests 7-1 over the next 1:38, to close within four points. Louisiana was stronger over the final four minutes though, outscoring the hosts 8-1. UL held the Ladies without a field goal over the final 4:13. Lyndra Bell started the Cajuns final charge of the first half with a long jumper. McDaniel buried two from the stripe, before Jasmine Barnes and Bell each added one from the line. McDaniel converted a lay-up with 92 seconds remaining to complete an 8-0 run. The Cajuns will take the week off for finals and then are scheduled to host LSU-Shreveport on Sunday afternoon at Earl K. Long gym. Tip-off is slated for 2pm. RaginCajuns.com

[NewsCopy]

BOSSIER CITY - It was a lot more difficult than UL's women's basketball team would have wanted, but the Ragin' Cajuns have their first road victory of the season. And they can thank Sonora Edwards and Alicia McDaniel for helping the Cajuns survive the upset bid of Centenary's Ladies here Saturday. Edwards had a career-high 26 points as the big gun in the Cajuns' 78-71 win at the CenturyTel Center, but McDaniel's all-around floor game may have been more valuable. The senior from Houston finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks in 39 floor minutes. "She just makes plays for them," Centenary coach Steve Curtis said. "Every time we'd get within a couple of points, we'd have a breakdown and she'd make a play." McDaniel had a couple of those plays at the five-minute mark, after the Ladies (2-5) had cut what was a 17-point lead down to two at 66-64 on Sarah Weiler's driving jumper. McDaniel found Elaine McCants wide open for a three-pointer with 4:46 showing, and on Centenary's next possession she stepped into a passing late, picked off a steal and raced in for a layup that made it 71-64. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[OLF82]

_ _

Alicia McDaniel is a huge reason for U.L.'s success the past four years. She always seems to come up with the big steal to ignite a rally. Her fire and court presence is an inspiration and the right way to play basketball.

[NewsCopy]

After scoring a game-high 17 points in a season-opening loss to Mercer, Alicia McDaniel struggled in her next three games, totaling only 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting. She got back on track Saturday against Centenary - and helped the UL women's basketball team do the same. The senior guard was an all-around force in a 78-71 victory, falling just short of a triple-double with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists. She added five steals and two blocks as the Ragin' Cajuns (2-4) ended a three-game losing skid. "I want that to be a typical game for me," said McDaniel, who ranks in the top three in five categories for UL. "I can get that every game if I play as well as I did in that game. "I'm an all-around player, and I like to contribute in every way on the floor." The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana’s Ragin' Cajuns cruised to a 63-40 victory over LSU-Shreveport on Sunday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym. The Lady Cajuns won the game with defense, holding LSU-Shreveport scoreless for an 8:11 span of the first half en route to a 15-point lead at the break. The Lady Pilots shot only 24.1 percent in the opening stanza, making just seven field goals. Louisiana breezed through the second half as tough Cajuns defense held LSU-S to 22.2 percent shooting. The UL lead never dipped below 13 points in the final 20 minutes. The Cajuns shot 39.3 percent for the game and led in rebounding 53-41. Onna Charles saw a season-high 28 minutes, scoring 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She is now just 58 points away from 1,000 for her career. Nine other Cajuns hit at least one field goal. Sonora Edwards led all players with 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass. The Cajuns long-range shooting showed no signs of a finals-week lay-off, as Whitney Dunlap, Alicia McDaniel and Charles each connected from behind the arc to give UL an early 9-5 lead. McDaniel converted a lay-up courtesy of a back-door pass by Dunlap to extend the home edge to 11-5 at the 16:11 mark. A triple by Elaine McCants propelled the Cajuns lead to 14-7 edge six minutes into the contest. After watching their lead drop down to two points, the Cajuns built it back up to seven, 21-14, at the 8:37 mark. Both teams then ran cold for the next 3:04, until an offensive put-back by Sonora Edwards and a long jumper from the wing by Jasmine Barnes boosted the UL lead to 25-14 with 4:15 remaining in the first half. Valanette Amie and Charles hit lay-ups on consecutive possessions to help the Cajuns’ lead grow to 15 points. A short jumper by Janai Sells with 37 seconds remaining was the last of the half and the first score by the Lady Pilots in over eight minutes. The Cajuns will travel to No. 25 Texas on Dec. 16 before returning home to face Nicholls State on Dec. 18. RaginCajuns.com