The Book: Lady Cajuns 2004-05 Basketball Season

[NewsCopy]

DENTON, Texas - Less than one week removed from their photo finish at Earl K. Long Gym, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team and Arkansas State will square off again this time in the semifinal round of the 2005 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The game will be played at 11 a.m. (CST) on Monday, March 7 in the Super Pit here on the University of North Texas campus. ESPN Plus will produce the contest which will be carried in the Lafayette viewing area on Cox Sports TV (cable channel 27).

ASU downed South Alabama 61-53 in the quarterfinals Sunday afternoon to reach Monday's game. The Indians (19-9) used a 20-0 run to end the game - erasing a double-digit lead in the process - in advancing to Monday's contest against No. 1 West seed Louisiana-Lafayette.

Louisiana-Lafayette (21-8) advanced into Monday's semifinal with a 61-60 win over FIU Saturday afternoon. An Anna Petrakova three-point play with 30.7 seconds left capped off an 8-0 run that rallied the Cajuns from a five-point deficit with less than three minutes left to play.

The two teams met in the regular season finale on Saturday, Feb. 26. Ashley Blanche delivered the game-winning jumper as time expired to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 66-64 victory over ASU and the outright Sun Belt Conference Western Division championship. It was the program's first win over ASU under head coach J. Kelley Hall.

The Cajuns and Indians have met once before in the Sun Belt Tournament. ASU posted a 78-35 win in the first round of the 1994 event in Bowling Green, Ky.

Louisiana is venturing into the semifinal round of the Sun Belt Tournament for the first time in program history. On Saturday, the Ragin' Cajuns picked up the program's first-ever league tournament victory with the win over FIU. ASU is making its ninth appearance in the semifinals.

With a win on Monday the Cajuns would tie the program record for single-season victories at 22 (set in the 1983-84 season) and reach the championship round on Tuesday, March 8.

Monday's semifinal round game can also be heard on the radio via SportsRadio ESPN 1420-KPEL AM. Jay Walker, the "Voice of the Ragin' Cajuns", will call all of the action from the Super Pit.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

DENTON, Texas - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns have been traveling in rarified air this season.

If they can defeat Arkansas State in today's 11 a.m. Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinal, they'll boldly go where no UL women's team has gone before.

The 21-8 Cajuns edged Florida International 61-60 on Saturday, getting the first Sun Belt Tournament win in school history and just the second conference tournament victory ever.

Reaching Tuesday's championship game would be another quantum leap in coach J. Kelley Hall's third-year at the helm.

"I don't think we were nervous for FIU," Hall said. "I think we were prepared to play and were rested.

"We were the West champions, but FIU was ranked about 100 points ahead of us in the RPI ratings. With Arkansas State, it's the same thing.

"Nobody believes we can do it. We'll just have to do it again."

If today's contest comes close to the season finale between UL and ASU, it will be a classic. The Cajuns' Ashley Blanche won that one 66-64 on a last-second jumper before a packed house at Earl K. Long Gym to clinch an outright Western Division crown.

"It was just a great Division I basketball game," said ASU coach Brian Boyer. "People asked me if our team did something wrong, and we really didn't. We played really well.

"People talk about Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, and I guess us, but I'm convinced nobody's playing better in the Sun Belt right now than Louisiana-Lafayette.

"Anna Petrakova is among the best centers in the Sun Belt, and Blanche is a good point guard who they surround with good shooters. And, Tiffany Washington is a great complementary forward."

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[CajunCherokee]

Is the Lady Cajun semifinal on the radio/internet? I would love to listen to the game at work.

[CRAWFISH61]

The game is on the radio on 1420. It is also on cox 27 for tv.

[CajunCherokee]

Cool. Thanks.

[Jason]

It's also on the net:

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaw/scoreboard

There is a link under the score for the game!

[CajunCherokee]

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kr.rvs-sports.m3u

That's the link to Jay Walker calling the game play-by-play on the net.

[shof]

Jason,

Thanks for that link. One of the few I can get to from work.

For those unable to listen, the score is:

Cajuns up 43-33 at the 11:33 point in the 2nd half.

[shof]

Cajuns up 15 with 8:38 to go!

[shof]

4:27 to go, Cajuns up by 14.

[shof]

3 mins to go. Indians get it down to 9.

[shof]

1:39 to go. Indians cut it to 7. Cajuns at the line for 2first is good.second also good; back to 9 points.

[shof]

Inside 1 minuteBlanche back at the line.first free throw is goodsecond is no good, Cajuns up by 9.

[shof]

Cajuns make 1 of 2 again for 10 point lead. 30 seconds to go!

[shof]

Ladies WIN !! 61-49. On to the finals!