The Book: Lady Cajuns 2004-05 Basketball Season

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UL pulls away late for easy victory over Lady Cardinals

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns withstood the contentious challenge of Lamar's Lady Cardinals Wednesday night at Earl K. Long Gym, pulling away in the second half for a 70-51 victory in their final home game of 2004.

The Cardinals came in with a chip on their shoulders and a reputation as a physical, aggressive rebounding club, and they showed the scouting report was well-earned as they traded leads with UL in the early going.

But coach J. Kelley Hall's team gained separation with a 29-22 halftime advantage, then buried the visitors with a take-charge start to the second half to improve to 9-3 on the year.

"They started with a hot pace, and it took us time to get adjusted to it," said senior Anna Petrakova, who finished with a game-high 24 points and 9 rebounds. "We started to play our game, instead of just running after them.

"It was important to us, emotionally and mentally, to get the advantage over them before halftime in order to take the pressure off. When it's a matter of one point or two points, every shot counts and it's hard to play in that type of situation."

"That was huge for us to go into the locker room up 7," Hall said. "We finally hit on a combination of players who played the defense we wanted. We needed that cushion.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[RaginEsquire06]

Really enjoyed watching the Lady Cajuns play Lamar...Wish there was more community support! Keep up the good work Ladies!

Go Cajuns!

[studentfan]

Their really doing great this year and this signing class really shows the job coach Hall has done with the program.

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Lady Rebels upset nation's No. 7 club

ATLANTA - The Teurlings Catholic Lady Rebels recorded arguably their biggest victory of the 2004 season Monday, defeating Archbishop Carroll, the No. 7-ranked team in the country according to USA TODAY, 58-50 in the St. Pius Tournament in Georgia.

After being held under 10 points in the Lady Rebels' previous two games, senior point guard and UL Ragin' Cajun signee Blair Brodhead scored a game-high 24 points en route to leading Teurlings to victory and improving its record to 17-4.

Brodhead was joined by senior shooting guard Laure Bordelon, who scored 17 points, as the top offensive performers for Teurlings.

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[RaisingCajun08]

The Teurlings Catholic Lady Rebels recorded arguably their biggest victory of the 2004 season Monday, defeating Archbishop Carroll, the No. 7-ranked team in the country according to USA TODAY, 58-50 in the St. Pius Tournament in Georgia.

That could be the biggest victory in school history.

[Rebel02]

No, the biggest victory was the whopping put on district rival Kaplan in the 2002 3A State Championship game. It was Blaire's freshman season (my senior year) and we took over SLUg's gym. First ever girl's basketball State Champion from Lafayette Parish.

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Sure, they're on the road, and it's the unlucky 13th game of the season. And the University of Louisiana's women's basketball squad has reached double-figure wins by the 13th game only three other times in the program's history.

But the Ragin' Cajuns will still be prohibitive favorites to notch their 10th win today when they travel to face the Golden Lions of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a 2 p.m. contest at UAPB's Johnson Complex.

The Cajuns (9-3) have lost only against sixth-ranked Stanford in the Great Alaska Shootout, at Arkansas and at Nebraska so far this season. The Lions (2-6) aren't on that level and have lost their last three contest by an average of 35 points.

But it is on the road, and the Cajuns have won on an opposing floor (not including neutral sites) once this season - a trend that coach J. Kelley Hall wants his team to halt before Sun Belt Conference play begins in January.

"I'm very proud of this team for heading into Christmas with a 9-3 record," Hall said. "But we're still looking for a defensive I.Q. We want to be one of the best defensive teams in the Sun Belt, because if you can play defense on the road you have a chance to win."

His team will get a chance to work on that this afternoon in its final non-conference game of the season. UL opens Sun Belt play Saturday, Jan. 8, against Denver at the Cajundome.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Crowley Cajun]

They won 64-41

[RaginEsquire06]

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Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns finished their non-conference slate with a 64-41 victory at Arkansas-Pine Buff on Thursday. The Cajuns improve to 10-3, while UAPB falls to 2-7.

Louisiana now looks toward the Sun Belt Conference and a Jan. 8 meeting with Denver in the Cajundome.

UL played much better in the opening minutes of the second half compared to the beginning of the first half, particularly Anna Petrakova. The Cajuns started with an 8-4 run to up their 15-point halftime edge to a 41-22 lead with 17:25 left in the contest.

Petrakova scored five points during the run, equaling her first half total.

Sherita Anderson then spelled Petrakova, and added a pair of buckets of her own, including an offensive rebound and put-back that gave the Cajuns a 47-27 lead with 11:47 remaining.

The final 10 minutes proved uneventful as neither team played with any passion. Both the Cajuns and Lady Golden Lions scored eight points apiece over a 5:30 span, maintaining the Cajuns 20-point lead, 55-35 with 5:18 to play.

Anderson was the story in the game’s final four minutes, scoring six points to set a career-best with 12 points on the afternoon. Petrakova and Tiffany Washington also scored 12 points. Sonora Edwards led all players with 10 rebounds. Tobie Buford and Ashley Blanche led all players with five assists apiece.

10 Cajuns played at least 11 minutes in the contest.

The Cajuns struggled from the floor early, but poor shot selection by UAPB kept UL up 7-6 six minutes into the game.

Jessica Fulce scored at the 13:50 mark to give the Lady Golden Lions an 8-7 lead, their last lead of the contest.

Alexandra Kotta put UL up 10-8 with a three-pointer, and then ahead 15-12 on another triple. Kotta finished her scoring burst with a third triple to give the Cajuns an 18-15 lead and trigger a 12-0 Cajuns run.

Bernette Tolston followed Kotta’s three-pointer with one of her own, before Petrakova added a three-point play and an inside basket. Edwards capped the run with a free throw.

Jewel Owens stopped UAPB’s scoring drought with a free throw, as the Cajuns led 27-16 with 3:49 to play in the half.

UL allowed their first basket in over six minutes, a jumper by LaToya Thomas at the 1:23 mark, but the Cajuns outscored UAPB 6-2 over the final three minutes to close the half up 33-18.

LOUISIANA SI