Cajuns at Arkansas State

The Louisiana-Lafayette women's basketball team entered Sun Belt play on Thursday night looking to snap a season high six-game losing streak.? Arkansas State would provide no help to the Cajuns, claiming a 77-55 victory in Jonesboro.

The Cajuns fall to 6-18, 1-12, while ASU improves to 11-14, 5-8.

??????????? Physically play early in the second half caused UL Lafayette to unravel.? The Cajuns were foiled by viscous hand-checking and aggressive play in the post.

??????????? ASU forwards Z Humphries and Chiquita Tucker dominated inside.? Humphries led all scorers with 20 points, while Tucker added 16.? The pair combined for 26 rebounds.

??????????? The Cajuns played one of their best opening halves in conference play, connecting on 43 percent of their shots in the first frame.? UL Lafayette trailed by only four points after twenty minutes.

Gaining momentum, Louisiana-Lafayette closed to within one-point early in the second half.? Then all of a sudden, the Indians exploded offensively, taking complete control of the game.? ASU used a 23-2 run to extend their lead to 62-40.? The rest of the half proved to be a wash, as ASU's 22-point lead was not contested.

Charlotte Green and Sarah Richey led the Cajuns with 14 points apiece.? Richey led all players with five blocks and a career high 16 rebounds.

“I thought we had an excellent first half,” said head coach Gay Nix.? “We were never able to recover from ASU's big run.? It got out of hand very quickly and we couldn't match their intensity to get back in the game.”

The game started with a quick three-pointer by Casie Lowman, but five straight points from Green gave the Cajuns a short-lived 5-3 lead.? Back-to-back buckets by Humphries started a 10-0 Indians run.? The Cajuns would not roll over, climbing back to within seven at 20-13 with a media timeout on the floor at 10:06 of the first half.? The next media timeout with 7:38 remaining saw the Cajuns get even closer at 22-17.? A 5-0 Cajuns run answered a 6-0 burst by the Indians near the final media timeout.? UL Lafayette continued their fine play, outscoring ASU 6-4 over the final two minutes to draw within four, 35-31, at the break.

The first half was much better than the first frame the last time these teams met.? The Cajuns made just four field goals in the first half, shooting only 12 percent in the game's first 20 minutes.? ASU led that game 35-11 at the break.

Louisiana-Lafayette will remain in Arkansas through the weekend, preparing for a Saturday tip with Arkansas-Little Rock.

UL Lafayette (55) GREEN 5-11 2-2 14; RICHEY 6-15 2-2 14; EVANS 4-9 1-2 10; WILLIAMS 2-6 3-3 7; TOLSTON 1-5 0-0 3; FORD 1-1 0-0 2;

CAFFEY 0-1 2-2 2; QUALLS 1-2 0-0 2; NOEL 0-1 1-2 1; STEWART 0-1 0-0 0; FINCHER 0-4 0-0 0; SIMON 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 11-13 55.

Arkansas State (77) HUMPHRIES 9-13 2-7 20; TUCKER 7-14 2-4 16; McKEIRNAN 4-19 4-4 12; LOWMAN 4-6 3-4 12; ABRAHAM 3-7 1-2 8;

SMITH 2-15 1-3 6; REID 1-4 0-0 3; ROBIDEAUX 0-1 0-0 0; SAGAIKAITE 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 30-82 13-24 77.

Halftime-ULL 31, ASU 35.? 3-point goals-ULL 4-11 (GREEN 2-3; TOLSTON 1-4; EVANS 1-3; QUALLS 0-1), ASU 4-13 (SMITH 1-5; ABRAHAM 1-4; LOWMAN 1-2; REID 1-1; SAGAIKAITE 0-1). Fouled out--ULL-None, ASU-None. Rebounds-ULL 42 (RICHEY 16), ASU 56 (HUMPHRIES 14).

Assists-ULL 14 (SIMON 3; GREEN 3; RICHEY 3), ASU 13 (HUMPHRIES 3; LOWMAN 3; ABRAHAM 3). Total fouls-ULL 20, ASU 17. A-1195

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

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