The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team forced 30 Sam Houston State turnovers, including 19 steals, and the Cajuns totaled 30 points off the Bearkats miscues in a 65-46 victory Saturday afternoon at the Cajundome.

"With Jaylyn Gordon being out, I thought we were going to have a hard time offensively, and we did at the beginning," said head coach Garry Brodhead. "We created a lot of offense with defense. That was our gameplan."

Junior guard Kia Wilridge led Louisiana (5-0) with 16 points and a career-high eight steals while sophomore guard Gabby Alexander added 14 points and five boards. A total of 11 Cajuns recorded points in the contest.

"I thought Kia played extremely well, and Gabby played extremely well in the second half," Brodhead said. "I think when they went to the man (defense), it opened up the middles of the lanes. (Gabby) was able to run the court and get to the goal. She's so athletic."

Taylor Dorsey paced the Bearkats (1-6) with 20 points, shooting 8-of-13 from the floor while also recording a team-high six rebounds. Shernise Robertson also reached double figures, adding 10 points for Sam Houston State off the bench.

The Cajuns defense flustered the Bearkats in the opening 20 minutes, forcing 19 turnovers, to take a 28-11 lead into the break.

"I thought (our full-court press) took a lot out of them," Brodhead said. "In doing that, it helped us to get in the flow of our offense."

After a layup by Dorsey to cut the Cajuns lead to 11-9 midway through the first half, Louisiana responded with a 7-0 run, sparked by a three-pointer from Keke Veal, to push the Cajuns lead to 18-9. Louisiana outscored Sam Houston State 10-2 in the final 5:31 to take a 28-11 advantage into the locker room.

Louisiana continued to run away from the Bearkats in the opening minutes of the second half, going on a 13-2 run in the first four minutes of the period for the largest lead of the game at 41-13.

Sam Houston State began to trim away at its deficit over the next several minutes as Jasmin Wiley scored five of the next seven points for the Bearkats to make it a 41-20 game with 13:47 remaining.

Wilridge ended the Sam Houston State run with back-to-back buckets to extend the Louisiana lead to 45-20 as the Cajuns were able to hold at least a 20-point cushion through a majority of the second half.

A triple by Robertson with 1:56 to play pulled the Bearkats within 18 at 59-41, the first time since the 18:51 mark of the second period that Sam Houston State had been within 20 points of the Cajuns.

Louisiana shot 44.6 percent for the game while the Bearkats were 40.0 percent from the field. The Cajuns held a 44-20 advantage in the paint while also leading in points off turnovers (30-13), second chance points (16-7) and fast break points (20-6).

The Louisiana men's and women's basketball teams will play a doubleheader next Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. with the men hosting Centenary and the women facing Southern-New Orleans at 4:15 p.m.