The Book: Lady Cajuns 2005-06 basketball season

[BabbForHeisman]

Anybody happen to know how this current streak ranks among all time Lady Cajun win streaks?

[NCAA or BUST]

Anybody happen to know how this current streak ranks among all time Lady Cajun win streaks?

I heard the record was eight. Anyone know the year?

[DaddyCajun]

GEAUX LADY CAJUNS!!!!!!!!!!

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


DADDYCAJUN

[NewsCopy]

SAVANNAH, Ga.-Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team extended their winning streak to eight games with a 68-40 win over Savannah State Thursday night at Tiger Arena in Savannah, Ga. With the win, the Cajuns improve to 8-1 on the season, while Tigers drop to 1-9. Defensively, the Cajuns limited the Lady Tigers to just 40 points, their second lowest scoring performance of the season. UL held Savannah State to just 27-pecent shooting for the game including holding the Tigers scoreless from behind the arc (0-for-6). The Cajuns’ defense caused 24 turnovers and had eight steals on the night. UL scored 33 points off of turnovers compared to just eight by Savannah State. The Ragin’ Cajuns defense had four blocks in the game, including a pair from both Yolanda Jones and Onna Charles. Offensively, the Cajuns were led by Alicia McDaniel, who scored a career high 11 points. Jones and Charles were the only other Cajuns with double digit scoring, both scoring 10. Sherita Anderson added a season high nine points for the Cajuns. All 10 Lady Cajuns scored in the contest. The rest of the story LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana coach J. Kelley Hall got what he wanted on Thursday night. Now he can focus on bigger challenges. The LAdy Cajuns marched past Savannah State by a 68-40 count, posting an eighth straight victory to improve to 8-1 on the season while saddling the homestanding Tigers (1-9) with a ninth straight setback. But the game - attended by just 87 fans - was merely an appetizer for Saturday's 3 p.m. contest at SEC member Auburn, and the Cajuns made sure they took care of their business so Saturday will have added meaning. "They understand that we need to get road wins," Hall said. "And when it was over, it was a relief because then we could turn all our attention to Auburn. We could finally talk about it. "That's why we came on this trip. It's a huge opportunity for us." Alicia McDaniel led the Cajuns with 11 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of steals. Also in double figures were Onna Charles (10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocked shots) and Yolanda Jones (10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks). The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

The Louisiana Lady Cajuns have a chance to get some attention today. The Cajuns meet SEC member Auburn at 3 p.m., facing the highest-profile opponent this season since opening the campaign with a 53-45 loss at SMU, and they enter the game riding an 8-game winning streak. "This will be a huge test for us," said coach J. Kelley Hall of the first-ever meeting between the two schools in women's basketball. "Auburn goes 6-7, 6-4 and 6-3 across the front line. They're very big and very athletic. We're going to have to use our athleticism and quickness against them. "We'll look to spread them out and take their big people away from the basket. We know they'll play all man-to-man. We'll have to rebound and make our shots." The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

The Louisiana Lady Cajuns were in prime position for an upset on Saturday, but they couldn't close the deal on the road against Auburn. The visitors battled to within 59-54 of Auburn with 3:22 remaining in the game, but missed their last six shots and hit just 1-of-2 free throws in a 65-55 defeat - their first since the season opener at SMU. "We've got to learn to finish up," said coach J. Kelley Hall, whose squad fell to 8-2 and had an 8-game winning streak snapped. "I think we played good defense - we held them to 65 points - and rebounded well (owning a 45-44 edge). "But when you only shoot 31 percent (20-of-65, .308) on the other team's floor, you're not going to win, especially against an SEC team like Auburn. We needed to make four more shots. We never got the shot we needed late in the game." Junior Yolanda Jones led the Cajuns with 19 points and 17 rebounds, but hit just 7-of-25 shots from the field and suffered eight turnovers against the rangy Auburn front line. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

It was no surprise to find the Nicholls State Lady Colonels taking the fight to Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns halfway through Wednesday night's game at Stopher Gym. Nicholls has made a habit of doing that, and the Colonels led 35-34 at the break. But coach J. Kelley Hall's squad responded like a Sun Belt Tournament finalist should, shutting the door in the second half to win 74-62 and improve to 9-2 on the season. "It was like going to the dentist," Hall said. "But from the 8-minute mark on, we did what we had to do to win the game. I was proud of the effort in the second half. "At the half, we wanted to try to make them shoot from the perimeter, and we wanted to stop the dribble penetration. We made them shoot 24 percent from behind the 3-point line, and we out-rebounded them by 17 (51-34). Plus-17 on the boards - I'll take that anytime." The Cajuns got 13 points and 14 rebounds from Sonora Edwards, a critical performance since UL's leading scorer and rebounder, Yolanda Jones, was limited to 28 minutes by foul trouble. Jones still recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The rest of the story Bruce Brown bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[CajunRed]

Although the 2005/06 Lady Cajun Basketball team is off to a fantastic start and all UL fans are excited about what Coach Hall and his team has accomplished, I am wondering if the strength-of-schedule could end up biting us as it did last year. If you will recall, it was widely speculated that our SOS was a main factor in the Lady Cajuns not being extended an invitation to play in the WNIT.

In looking at RealtimeRPI.com, although we are currently have an RPI ranking of "106", our current SOS stands at 329, which is right at the bottom. Our SOS should rise quite a bit as we begin playing Sun Belt Conference games... but will our non-conference SOS hurt us again? Just asking.......

Go Lady Cajuns!!

[El Sidonio]

I believe once our team has continued to strengthen itself for another 3 or 4 years, we can start scheduling a tougher pre-conference schedule.But, considering where our team has come from, I say a weaker schedule that allows our team to gel and come together is better. either way, they're on the way up.

God Bless

[BirdofParadise]

I believe once our team has continued to strengthen itself for another 3 or 4 years, we can start scheduling a tougher pre-conference schedule.But, considering where our team has come from, I say a weaker schedule that allows our team to gel and come together is better. either way, they're on the way up.

God Bless

I''m with Sid on this one. There will come a time that the women need to schedule up. This isn't it.

The reason many are getting excited about women's basketball is 22-9 a year ago. If we won the west and the team was 15-16 there wouldn't have been as much excitement.

Schedule wins now, get the fans fired up. Up the schedule later.

[headragincajun]

I''m with Sid on this one. There will come a time that the women need to schedule up. This isn't it.

The reason many are getting excited about women's basketball is 22-9 a year ago. If we won the west and the team was 15-16 there wouldn't have been as much excitement.

Schedule wins now, get the fans fired up. Up the schedule later.

I appreciate all the support. I think that to be fair to the DIE-HARDS I should tell them the reason that we are where we are today. I believe that first and foremost that our fans deserve the right to see our team play games at home and not always on the road. We will play anybody here in Lafayette (first) and then we will return the game. The people we are playing now are the only people willing to come play at E.K. Long. Hopefully that will change in the near future. We have the offer out to play Miss. State or La. Tech (at E.K. Long) next year. Waiting to hear back from them. You can go back and check our games away from home the first 3 years. We played 17 on the road the first year, we played 19 on the road the 2nd year (first 10 games on the road) and we played 18 road games last year. We have done better each year on the road too. I just felt like it was time to finally play more games at home than on the road (BEEN THERE, DONE THAT).

With all that being said we are (as of today) on realtimerpi.com #102. We were #149 last year when all the smoke cleared and we were 22-9. Today we are 9-2 with 1 more non-conference to go before the Sun Belt Schedule. If we take care of our own business in the West, we will be fine. It is totally up to us (No excuses). I believe that our fans have a right to know and that was what I was thinking. Keep coming out to the games (YOU DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE).

Headragincajun1