2003-04 Lady Cajun's Basketball

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LOUISIANA La. - The University of Louisiana Lady Cajuns basketball program has set its schedule of games for the upcoming 2003-04 season, released by the athletic department Thursday.

Head coach J. Kelley Hall and his staff has compiled a schedule that includes a total of 27 games with nine of them being at home including three regular-season home games at the Cajundome as part of a doubleheader with the Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team.

The slate features an interesting twist as the first 10 games are all on the road with the home opener not occurring until Saturday, Jan. 10 against Denver at Earl K. Long Gym.

UL will get to enjoy the comforts of home in the early going as exhibition matchups are slated for Nov. 6 and Nov. 13 as part of doubleheaders at the Cajundome. Both games are scheduled for 4:45 p.m.

The regular season begins on Tuesday, Nov. 25 as the Cajuns visit in-state foe Southeastern Louisiana for the first of 10 straight road games to open the season. A trip to College Park, Md., for the Maryland
Terrapin Classic Nov. 28-29 rounds out the schedule of games for the fall 2003 semester.

Following fall semester final exams break, UL will open a stretch of six road games in 12 days beginning Monday, Dec. 8 at Centenary College and concluding Saturday, Dec. 20 at Coastal Carolina for the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The Cajuns open Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Long Gym against Denver in a 2 p.m. game. The DU matchup, which will also serve as the home opener, begins a stretch eight of the first nine SBC games to be played at home which includes two, four-game homestands.

Louisiana will play three SBC games at the Cajundome. The Cajuns host South Alabama (Jan. 15), New Orleans (Jan. 17) and North Texas (Feb. 5) in 4:45 p.m. games as part of doubleheaders with the men's basketball team.

As part of reciprocal agreements, the South Alabama (Feb. 12) and New Orleans (Feb. 14) road games are also doubleheaders with the men's squad.

The Cajuns final home game takes place on Thursday, Feb. 19 against New Mexico State at 7 p.m. in Long Gym.

From there the Cajuns will finish the campaign with three straight road games beginning Saturday, Feb. 21 at North Texas followed by games at Arkansas State Feb. 26 and Arkansas-Little Rock Feb. 28.

The 2004 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament will be held in Bowling Green, Ky., at E.A. Diddle Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky University. The league's annual postseason event will be held Saturday-Tuesday, March 6-9.

For the first time since the Sun Belt split into divisions not all 11 teams qualify for the league tourney. Eight of the 11 teams will advance to the tournament - the top two division winners and runners-up plus the next best four teams regardless of division will compete for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

LOUISIANA SI

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LOUISIANA'S LADY CAJUNS 2003-04 BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Nov. 6 (#Thurs.), EVERYONE'S INTERNET (exhibition), 4:45 p.m.
Nov. 13 (#Thurs.), JACKSON BABES (exhibition), 4:45 p.m.
Nov. 25 (Tues.), at Southeastern Louisiana, 7 p.m.
Nov. 28 (1)Fri.), at Maryland, Noon (CST)
Nov. 29 (1)Sat.), vs. MD-Eastern Shore/Sacred Heart, 11:30 a.m./2 p.m. (CST)

Dec. 8 (Mon.), at Centenary College, 7 p.m.
Dec. 12 (Fri.), at Nicholls State, 7 p.m.
Dec. 14 (Sun.), at Nebraska, 2 p.m.
Dec. 16 (Tues.), at Savannah State, 6 p.m. (CST)
Dec. 18 (Thurs.), at South Carolina, 6 p.m. (CST)
Dec. 20 (2)Sat.), at Coastal Carolina, 11 a.m. (CST)

Jan. 6 (Tues.), at Lamar, 7 p.m.
Jan. 10 (Sat.), DENVER, 2 p.m.
Jan. 11 (Sun.), TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN, 4 p.m.
Jan. 15 (#Thurs.), SOUTH ALABAMA, 4:45 p.m.
Jan. 17 (#Sat.), NEW ORLEANS, 4:45 p.m.
Jan. 22 (Thurs.), at New Mexico State, 8:05 p.m. (CST)
Jan. 24 (Sat.), FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL, 7 p.m.
Jan. 29 (Thurs.), WESTERN KENTUCKY, 7 p.m.
Jan. 31 (Sat.), MIDDLE TENNESSEE, 2 p.m.

Feb. 5 (#Thurs.), NORTH TEXAS, 4:45 p.m.
Feb. 7 (Sat.), at Denver, 4 p.m.
Feb. 12 (Thurs.), at South Alabama, 5 p.m.
Feb. 14 (Sat.), at New Orleans, 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 16 (Mon.), at Texas-Pan American, 5 p.m.
Feb. 19 (Thurs.), NEW MEXICO STATE, 7 p.m.
Feb. 21 (Sat.), at North Texas, TBA
Feb. 26 (Thurs.), at Arkansas State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 28 (Sat.), at Arkansas-Little Rock, 7 p.m.

March 6-9 at Sun Belt Tournament, TBA

# game played at the Cajundome (12,800)
(1) Maryland Terrapin Classic (College Park, Md.)
(2) Beach Ball Classic (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

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Ragin' Cajuns begin preparations for 2003-04 season

LOUISIANA La. - The University of Louisiana LAdy Cajun basketball team will hold its first practice on Saturday with two sessions. The first session will be held from 9-11 a.m. and the second session from 4-6 p.m.

Head coach J. Kelley Hall and his squad will practice at 1 p.m. during the week.

All practices are held at Earl K. Long Gym located on the university's main campus.

The women's team will have a new look this season with five newcomers on a roster of 11 players. The most notable of the newcomers is Oklahoma State transfer Tiffany Washington - the sister of former Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball standout Immanuel Washington.

Junior Anna Petrakova highlights the Cajuns returnees for 2003-04. The Moscow, Russia, native started 11 games last season and led the team in offensive rebounds, total rebounds and finished second in blocks.

The LAdy Cajuns basketball team will open their exhibition season on Thursday, Nov. 6 in a doubleheader with the men at the Cajundome. They will face Everyone's Internet at 4:45 p.m. while the men take on Delta State in a 7:05 p.m. tilt.

LOUISIANA SI

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Cajun women’s basketball team encounters roster, schedule problems early.

LOUISIANA La. — J. Kelley Hall said Saturday that his Louisiana women’s basketball program is still one year away from truly turning a corner.

His squad might be at that corner right now, at the start of preseason drills for the 2003-04 season, if all the players he expected to have only a few months ago were on the floor Saturday morning for the first official workout.

Instead, Hall has to feel a little shell-shocked.

Two highly-regarded commitments — junior college transfers Sherita Anderson and Jacquanda Amacker — wound up pregnant. Another transfer, Ovlina Lewis of La. Tech, has been to five different doctors with a heart condition and still doesn’t know if she will be cleared to play.

Ansley Bienvenu, a transfer from UNC Asheville, is awaiting NCAA clearance and may not get that clearance until the end of the fall semester. Tiffany Washington, an ex-Franklin standout who transferred from Oklahoma State, isn’t eligible until the end of fall classes.

And Sharee Glenn, one of six letterman returnees and the team’s leading scorer in Sun Belt Conference play last year, missed Saturday’s opening drills after the death of her grandfather in the Dallas area.

“These kids have worked hard in the preseason, but we just don’t have any depth,” said Hall, who opened his second season at the Ragin’ Cajun helm in Saturday’s two two-hour workouts. “We know we’d be more athletic and have more depth if we had all those players, but there’s not a lot we can do about it at this point.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Louisiana opens with 10 straight away from home


NEW ORLEANS — It’s not that Louisiana coach J. Kelley Hall dislikes playing at home, it’s just that he likes a challenge.

The LAdy Cajuns will have just that in the upcoming basketball campaign, opening with 10 games on the road before finally hosting Denver Jan. 10 to start Sun Belt Conference play.

The closest the Lady Cajuns will be to a home game until then will be a Nov. 25 trip to Hammond for the opener against Southeastern Louisiana.

“I like to play good teams on the road,” said Hall, whose Cajuns were picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt’s West Division this season.

“Then, we play seven of our first eight Sun Belt games at home. We’ll know where we’ll be after that stretch.”

Hall, whose wife Meredith is expecting their second child this week, guided the Cajuns to three straight wins wrapping up the 2003 regular season en route to an 8-19 record.

“We have four really good returning players who have really worked hard on strength and conditioning and on offensive fundamentals,” Hall said.

Juniors Anna Petrakova and Bernette Tolson, along with seniors Sheree Glenn and Tiffany Washington are those four key factors.

“We’ll lean on them and count on them to lead the team,” Hall said.Redshirt Trina Johnson and senior Nakita Scott are both 6-4 additions to the front line, while transfer Ansley Bienvenu (”probably our best shooter”) offers solid help.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. — J. Kelley Hall is not shy about putting Louisiana's Lady Cajun's through the ringer before they enter the Sun Belt Conference women's basketball race.

That extends to next Thursday's exhibition opener against Everyone's Internet, a skilled team sure to challenge the Ragin' Cajuns.

“We're trying to put our power game in right now,” Hall said on Friday. “Trina Johnson gives us a different presence inside than we had last year, and we have to be ready for our first exhibition game.

“Last year, I thought our two exhibition games were too easy, and I think maybe the girls thought they were better than they were after they played them.

“This year, we'll play two games that don't count against teams that will expose our weaknesses, then we'll have 12 days to work before our season opener.”

The Cajun women scrimmage at 9:30 a.m. today at Earl K. Long Gym on campus, going 5-on-5 for two 20-minute halves, for another gauge of their progress.

When they play next Thursday, they will face a WNBA-based squad that was 13-1 on tour last year including a victory at Connecticut.

“Our players have worked extremely hard on their conditioning and on improving their strength,” Hall said.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. — It speaks volumes about a school’s women’s basketball program when an 8-19 record represents improvement, but that was the case last season at Louisiana.

Second-year Cajun coach J. Kelley Hall wasn’t satisfied with that minor step.

Hall expects his team to show marked improvement this season, which begins today with a 4:45 p.m. exhibition at the Cajundome against Everyone’s Internet.

“I want a .500 season,” Hall said. “That’s something that hasn’t happened here since 1987 — 16 years ago. We also want to make the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

“We’ve got more size and we have better shooters this year. We have four new kids added to four who played a lot last year.”

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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LOUISIANA La. — There was progress, just not enough of it yet, as Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun women dropped a 63-54 exhibition opener to Everyone’s Internet Thursday at the Cajundome.

Coach J. Kelley Hall’s squad was once again done in by poor shooting, making just 31 percent from the floor (20-of-64) against a team laced with WNBA personnel.

Junior forward Anna Petrakova played 40 minutes, scored 14 points, cleared 12 rebounds and had 5 assists, but she suffered a cold-shooting 5-of-18 from the floor.

Also unable to find the range was guard Bernette Tolston, hitting 1-of-11, all from 3-point range.

“Scoring is a problem for us,” Hall said. “They used a zone for maybe 37 of the 40 minutes, and we haven’t put our base zone offense in yet.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Cajun women’s basketball team will begin long road stretch on Tuesday.

LOUISIANA La. — Sharee Glenn doesn’t like to fly.

She knew that mode of travel was a reality in Division I women’s basketball when she signed with Louisiana out of Hill Junior College in Dallas.

“I don’t like it, but you have to get used to it,” Glenn said. “If you’re going to play on this level, you’re going to have to do it.”

But when she looked at the Ragin’ Cajun schedule for the first time earlier this year, it had to be a shock.

Get used to the road, gals. Buses, airports and hotel lobbies will be a regular part of your lives from now until early January.

The Cajun women, who open their season Tuesday night in Hammond against Southeastern Louisiana, play their first 10 games away from home to start the 2003-04 season. The squad won’t play at home until Jan. 10 when the Cajuns open Sun Belt Conference play against Denver.

Is this some kind of penance? Does head coach J. Kelley Hall have a masochistic streak?

Actually, Hall likes things this way.

“What I want to do is get our kids used to playing in different environments,” he said. “To win a conference championship, especially in a league as good as the Sun Belt, you have to get to a point that you can win on the road.”

His team will get plenty of chances, especially in one murderous stretch in mid-December when the

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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LOUISIANA La. — J. Kelley Hall is hoping for a different look from his Louisiana women’s basketball squad Tuesday when the Ragin’ Cajuns open their 2003-04 regular season.

The Cajuns lost both of their exhibition contests — two close contests against Everyone’s Internet and the Jackson Babes. But the results weren’t that surprising to Hall considering his format for preseason practice.

The Cajun squad, which travels to face Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond at 7 p.m. Tuesday, spent most of preseason drills working on offense.

Since the final exhibition game, defense has been the point of emphasis.

“We had to get in a lot of offensive work early because we had so many new people,” said Hall, who enters his second year as leader of the long-struggling program. “This week, we had four straight days that we did nothing but defense, and over the last couple of days we’ve mixed it up some.”

And according to Hall, the format has worked.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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HAMMOND — Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns basketball team makes the first of 10 straight road appearances to begin the 2003-04 season tonight when the Lady Cajuns travel to face Southeastern Louisiana.

The Cajuns, coming off an 8-19 season but winners of three out of four games to wrap up the 2002-03 campaign, will face the Lady Lions (1-0) at 7 p.m. at SLU’s University Center.

The UL squad, opening its second season under head coach J. Kelley Hall, took a 48-45 home win over SLU last season.

So far this year, the Lady Cajuns have two defeats in two exhibition games, most recently falling to the Jackson Babes 66-64 12 days ago.

“We’ve improved immensely since then, especially defensively,” said Hall. “We’ve made some big strides stopping transition and dribble penetration.”

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THIBODAUX – Wave goodbye to the members of Louisiana's Lady Cajun basketball team today, if you see them.

By the time you see them again, they will have visited Thibodaux, taken a brief stop in Baton Rouge, flown to Lincoln, Neb., flown to Columbia, S.C., taken a bus ride to Savannah, Ga., swing back through Columbia, bussed to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and flown back to Baton Rouge.

The Ragin’ Cajun women embark today on a marathon 10-day, five-city, five-game trip that will make up half of the squad’s series of 10 straight road games to begin the 2003-04 season.

That trip’s games start tonight when the Cajuns (2-2) take on Nicholls State in a 7 p.m. contest at Stopher Gym, which will be aired on KPEL-AM 1420.

The Cajun squad of head coach J. Kelley Hall will also meet Nebraska on Dec. 14, Savannah State on Dec. 16, South Carolina on Dec. 18 and Coastal Carolina in the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach before returning home.

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LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana’s junior center Anna Petrakova was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week.

Petrakova averaged 26 points and 14 rebounds in the Cajuns’ two contests.

It’s the first for the Cajun women since Sarah Richey claimed the same honor during the 2001-02 season.

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The long and winding road finally comes to an end, at least for a while, for the University of Louisiana's Lady Cajuns basketball team today.

The Lady Cajun squad completes a streak of five games in five different cities in nine days, all on the same trip, when it meets Coastal Carolina at 11 a.m. in the opening game of the Beach Ball Classic.

UL (3-5) won the opener of the trip at Nicholls State but has since lost by two points at Nebraska, lost in overtime at Savannah State and dropped a 72-59 decision to South Carolina on Thursday night.

“USC is a very good team and a top-five SEC team,” said Cajun coach J. Kelley Hall of the Thursday contest with the Gamecocks. “We knew coming in we had to dictate the tempo and I felt like our kids played hard and controlled the game for a good bit.”

Junior center Anna Petrakova had a season-high 26 points, hitting 11-of-13 shots, to lead the Cajuns in the loss to USC, while senior newcomer and frontcourt mate Tiffany Washington added 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds

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LOUISIANA La. — The long-awaited home opener for Louisiana’s Lady Cajuns comes at 2 p.m. today when UL hosts Denver at Earl K. Long Gym on campus.

Coach J. Kelley Hall’s team is a solid 5-5 on the year after capping a 10-game stretch of away games with Tuesday’s 68-44 dismantling of the Lamar Lady Cardinals, while Denver enters the contest at 7-5.

“It’s good to be home,” Hall said. “Playing 10 in a row on the road to start the season might be one of the toughest things I’ve ever asked a team to do, but overall I thought they responded well and have continued to get better.

“I you’re going to have that kind of experience, we needed to do it early. It was good to finish it off with a nice win.”

On Tuesday, UL got 24 points and 13 rebounds from junior Anna Petrakova, as well as 19 points from Sharee Glenn, 12 from Bernette Tolston (all on 3-pointers) and 10 rebounds from defensive ace Tiffany Washington.

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