Lady Bulldogs of MSU send UL Women to 0-6
UL– Mississippi State broke a 9-all tie with a 26-4 run to pull away from Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team and post a 71-38 victory here Friday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym.
The scoring spree opened a 35-13 lead with three minutes remaining in the first half. The deciding stretch of the game came from the 11-minute media timeout through three-minute media timeout. During the stretch, the Bulldogs (4-0) shot 10-of-14 while the Ragin’ Cajuns (0-6) shot 3-of-14.
Louisiana was led by Mercedes Johnson who scored a game-high 11 points. Whitney Dunlap and Nicole Morris each scored five points off the bench. Alexis Green, who entered the game averaging 16.6 points and had scored in double figures in every game, was held to three points on 1-of-12 shooting.
Mississippi State was led by Mary Kathryn Govero’s 11 points. Seven other players scored at least six points and all but one of the 12 who took the floor scored.
The game marked MSU’s first trip to Lafayette. The Bulldogs defeated the Cajuns for the sixth time in six all-time meetings.
The Cajuns scored on their first possession when Johnson hit a short-range jumper at 19:31. Louisiana’s defense kept MSU from getting good shot selection and as a result the Bulldogs didn’t get a field goal make until the 16:59 mark.
Free throws by Armelie Lumanu and Chanel Mokango at 17:57 and 17:24, respectively, put MSU up 3-2. Govero stole the ball from D’Mya Clay near midcourt and raced in for a layup at 16:59 – MSU’s first field goal – which stretched the lead to 5-2.
Louisiana would draw even two minutes later. Johnson rebounded her own miss and converted the putback at 15:30 to make it 7-5. MSU committed a traveling violation on the ensuing possession, then after the media timeout UL received a jumper in the lane from Amy Richard at 14:58 to create a 7-all tie.
A pair of Whitney Dunlap free throws at 14:29 offset a made basket by Govero and the score was tied again. The Bulldogs then cashed in a pair of steals into layups and the lead was 13-9 by the 12:16 mark – a lead the visitors would not relinquish.
The Cajuns’ scoreless drought after Dunlap’s freebies continued through 9:34 when Alexis Green hit a jumper in the right wing. Before Green’s jumper the Bulldogs had run off six more points and were up 19-9.
Eighteen seconds after Green’s basket, MSU pushed the lead back into double figures when Donnisha Tate scored inside to make it 21-11.
MSU slowly began to pull away as the clock dropped under seven minutes. UL rebounded a MSU miss and Clay rushed up the floor for a layup. However, she misfired on the attempt and a long outlet pass from Rima Kalonda to Tysheka Grimes led to a layup at 6:42 and it was 27-13.
Govero stole the ball from Johnson on the ensuing possession and made a layup at 6:09 upping the advantage to 29-13. After a Cajuns miss on the return trip, Kalonda hit a turnaround jumper at 5:32 to increase the lead to 31-13. The Bulldogs later turned another steal into a layup at the 4:09 mark to move the lead to 20 points (33-13).
MSU’s lead grew to 38-14 after a three-pointer by Lauren Roberts at 2:47. Louisiana then rattled off its best scoring run of the half to get the deficit under 20 points.
Morris answered Roberts’ triple with a make of her own at 2:22. Alexis Rack missed back-to-back three-point attempts for MSU which led to back-to-back layups by Jasmine Barnes. Barnes’ layups capped off a 7-0 run which trimmed the MSU lead to 38-21 by the 1:19 mark.
A pair of turnovers in the final minute of the half prevented UL from getting any closer before the break. A buzzer beater by Rack upped the MSU edge to 40-21 heading into halftime.
MSU scored the first three points of the second half to push the lead back over 20 points at 43-21. A Dunlap triple at 15:26 helped Louisiana cut the MSU lead to 45-26.
Both teams struggled shooting the ball after Dunlap’s trey and a combined four points were scored. UL started the second half shooting 2-of-12 while MSU was 3-of-13 through the 11:50 mark.
The Cajuns defense held the Bulldogs scoreless from 13:06 through 10:06. A pair of free throws by Johnson with 10:17 left in the game closed the lead to 47-30. MSU ended its scoreless drought with three-point makes from Govero and Robin Porter on the next two possessions and it was 53-30 by the 9:34 mark.
Louisiana was held scoreless until a Morris basket with 6:23 on the clock. That field goal make cut the deficit to 23 points (55-32) which is the closest the Cajuns would get the rest of the second stanza.
Louisiana will next play in the CAJUNDOME on Tuesday, Dec. 2 against McNeese State at 5 p.m. The game is the first of seven regular season games for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the facility. It’s also the first half of a doubleheader with the UL-McNeese men.
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Re: Lady Bulldogs of MSU send UL Women to 0-6
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