Lady Cajuns Close Out 2008 With A Statement Win

[NewsCopy]

  UL - Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns basketball team picked up a 69-42 victory over Savannah State on Tuesday afternoon in the final home game of 2008 for UL.

The victory was the fifth win for the Lady Cajuns (3-10) in the series over the Lady Tigers (2-9). All five wins for the Cajuns have been by double-digit victories.

The Cajuns built up a substantial halftime lead and did not look back as they claimed their largest margin of victory of the year. The win ties the largest margin of victory in the Errol Rogers Era. It tied the Cajuns’ 27-point victory against Nicholls State on Dec. 18, 2007.

Louisiana was balanced on offense with all 13 players who saw action in the game scoring. All three victories for the Cajuns this season have been a result of a total team effort on offense. Twelve of the 13 players that played against Nicholls State scored, while eight of the nine players that entered the game against Alabama State recorded points.

UL received a solid effort from its bench. The Cajuns bench scored a season-best 53 points and grabbed 26 rebounds.

The Ragin’ Cajuns were led offensively by Mercedes Johnson. The freshman netted 16 points off the bench on the afternoon and finished the game as one of three players in double-digits for the Cajuns. She also paced the Cajuns with a team-high nine rebounds.

Michelle Brunker and Jasmine Barnes each finished the game in double figures. Brunker netted a career high 12 points, while Barnes scored 11 points.

As a team, the Cajuns’ offense shot a season-high 56.0-percent from the floor.

Conversely, Louisiana’s defense held Savannah State to just 42 points – the lowest point total by an opponent this season. UL held the Lady Tigers to under 30-percent from the floor.

The Cajuns’ fell behind early but used a pair of sustained runs to gain control of the game.

After trailing 8-4 at the 17:10 mark of the first half, the Cajuns closed out the half with a 31-to-9 run. If not for back-to-back buckets by Savannah State in the final 30-seconds of the half, the Cajuns would have outscored the Lady Tigers by 26 over the final 17 minutes.

Behind 8-4, Louisiana used a 15-to-3 run that spanned nearly 11 minutes of game clock to claim an eight-point advantage, 19-11, at the 6:32 mark of the first half. For a period of run, UL held Savannah State without a field goal for roughly five minutes.

A layup by the Lady Tigers snapped the run, but the Ragin’ Cajuns rallied again and went on a 16-to-0 run over the next five minutes to build up a 22-point lead, 35-13, with 54 ticks on the clock.

During the run, the Cajuns defense held Savannah State scoreless for nearly six minutes – the second time in the half that UL held the Lady Tigers without a field goal for five minutes or more.

The Ragin’ Cajuns entered intermission with a comfortable 35-17 edge.

In the first half, ten (10) of the twelve (12) Louisiana players that saw action scored. The Cajuns were paced by Brunker and Johnson. The freshmen tandem each had eight points by halftime. For Brunker, eight points in the half topped her season-high for points (5) set against Mercer on Nov. 21.

The UL defense was solid in the first half holding the visitors to just 17 points on 19.4-percent from the floor. Savannah State’s halftime score and shooting percentage was the lowest in a half this season for a Cajuns opponent.

The second half was much of the same as the Cajuns outscored the Lady Tigers 34-25. The Cajuns led by as many as 30 in the second half and never let the visitors get closer than 15 points.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will take a break for the Christmas holiday. The Cajuns will return to action as they resume Sun Belt Conference play on Jan. 3, as they play host to Denver. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the Cajuns’ men’s basketball team and will be played at the CAJUNDOME. Since the men’s basketball game with Denver will be on television, the women’s basketball game will tip-off after the conclusion of the UL men’s game.

RaginCajuns.com

[Zeebart21]

_ _

Savannah State outcoached by us......?

Freakin pathetic.

Z

[RaginCajun77]

Savannah State......Seriously?

[CajunSaint]

way to gooooo, lady cajuns!! keep pushing and hustling. we are really behind you.

[RaginFan2]

_ _

Congrats Ladies on a big win. But a "statement win"? I don't think so. (That's on Newscopy not the Cajuns.) Good luck in conference!

[BayouBaller]

For a young team starving to get a win, I thought it was a pretty good statement. Glad to see Errol and the girls finally win in style. Savannah State has lost to some pretty good teams already. #18 Florida (11-1) beat them by 20. Nobody's talking about how they beat us last year by nine. Coach Hall got ambushed by SSU early in his Cajun career as well. Over Thanksgiving he spanked them by 30 in Cinncinnati.

Nothing like a win for a Merry Cajun Christmas!

[BayouBaller]

_ For a young team starving to get a win, I thought it was a pretty good statement. Glad to see Errol and the girls finally win in style. Savannah State has lost to some pretty good teams already. #18 Florida (11-1) beat them by 20. Nobody's talking about how they beat us last year by nine. Coach Hall got ambushed by SSU early in his Cajun career as well. Over Thanksgiving he spanked them by 30 in Cinncinnati.

Nothing like a win for a Merry Cajun Christmas! _

Looks like this "statement" victory ended up being pretty important after all. Never imagined this team would lose 16 straight from that point on. Without this win, they would be at 19 now with only the Sun Belt play-in game remaining. Not much to celebrate in losing, but hanging tough at UALR yesterday while holding them to 39 points in a 4 point loss tells me they are not rolling over and quitting. I would not want to play them on Wednesday.

[VObserver]

_ Looks like this "statement" victory ended up being pretty important after all. Never imagined this team would lose 16 straight from that point on. Without this win, they would be at 19 now with only the Sun Belt play-in game remaining. Not much to celebrate in losing, but hanging tough at UALR yesterday while holding them to 39 points in a 4 point loss tells me they are not rolling over and quitting. I would not want to play them on Wednesday. _

Don't worry, Rogers will find a way to get them beat.

[Clutch0364]

_ Looks like this "statement" victory ended up being pretty important after all. Never imagined this team would lose 16 straight from that point on. Without this win, they would be at 19 now with only the Sun Belt play-in game remaining. Not much to celebrate in losing, but hanging tough at UALR yesterday while holding them to 39 points in a 4 point loss tells me they are not rolling over and quitting. I would not want to play them on Wednesday. _

I don't know why you wouldn't want to play them. In conference they have lost by almost an average of 20 pts in every game.

[BayouBaller]

_ I don't know why you wouldn't want to play them. In conference they have lost by almost an average of 20 pts in every game. _

...making yesterday's performance against one of the top teams in conference kind of difficult to explain. UALR beat us by 31 in Lafayette on January 14. Though we did not get the win last night, we had the lead very late in the game before losing by 4. I've seen stranger things happen at this time of year.

The teams you want to play are the one's that have checked out. Last year, they beat us by 32 in Little Rock. They set a school record for most wins in a season with 24 last night. I appreciate Errol and the girls fighting to the very end and hope the next game will not be their last this season.

[VObserver]

_ ...making yesterday's performance against one of the top teams in conference kind of difficult to explain. UALR beat us by 31 in Lafayette on January 14. Though we did not get the win last night, we had the lead very late in the game before losing by 4. I've seen stranger things happen at this time of year.

The teams you want to play are the one's that have checked out. Last year, they beat us by 32 in Little Rock. They set a school record for most wins in a season with 24 last night. I appreciate Errol and the girls fighting to the very end and hope the next game will not be their last this season. _

As long as the last game this season is the last one ever for Rogers as our head coach, I hope the girls win out. If winning means keeping Rogers I hope they lose by 40. I hate to hope that, but it is better for the girls in the long run.