Cajuns at Arkansas-Little Rock

Winning is contagious in Little Rock these days.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team fell on Saturday night to Arkansas-Little Rock by a final score of 59-58.? The Trojans have won two straight conference games after snapping their conference record 40-game losing skid with a victory over New Mexico State on Thursday.

??????????? The Cajuns trailed big at the half but came back mightily to make a game of it.

??????????? Louisiana-Lafayette's attempted second half comeback was slow to progress, but was furious in the end. A jumper by Sarah Richey with 1:40 to play cut the ULAR lead to 59-55.? Twenty-one seconds later Breanna Evans nailed a three-pointer to trim the deficit to 59-58.?

With the score still the same, the Cajuns inbounded the ball with only eleven ticks on the clock.? Charlotte Green wound the clock down, then made her move.? UALR trapped Green at the top of the arc, but Green was able to dish out the ball with three seconds remaining.? Evans took a three-pointer that rang off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

??????????? “Our defensive effort was not good enough in the first half,” said head coach Gay Nix.? “We made some adjustments and played better in the second half, keeping them off the scoreboard for the final 2:31.? In the end, we just didn't have enough time.”

??????????? Sarah Richey led the Cajuns with 18 points and eight rebounds.? Brooke Williams chipped in 14 points.??????

The game started with two baskets from the Trojans 6-foot-3 center Roberta Sarti.? Sarti then hit a three-pointer to giver her a 7-4 lead over the Cajuns.? The teams played back-and-forth basketball until UALR went on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 31-19 with five minutes remaining in the half.? The half ended with the Trojans up 38-27.

Five minutes into the second half, the Cajuns had cut their eleven-point deficit to ten at 46-36.? The deficit remained ten, at 55-45, with only eight minutes to play in the game.? The Trojans lead was trimmed to six at 55-49 only 90 seconds later.

In the last two games, the Cajuns have had their problems stopping bigger post players and Saturday night was no exception.? Sarti led UALR with 18 points and seven rebounds, while 6-foot forward Asten Kennedy added 11 points and five rebounds.

The Cajuns will play their last home game of the season on Tuesday night, when the team hosts McNeese State at Earl K. Long Gym at 7pm.? UL Lafayette will say goodbye to seniors Carrie Fincher, DeLesha Qualls, Richey and Evans.

UL Lafayette (58) RICHEY 9-18 0-1 18; WILLIAMS 4-7 6-7 14; GREEN 4-14 0-0 9; QUALLS 3-8 2-2 8; EVANS 3-7 0-0 7; SIMON 0-3 1-2 1; FORD 0-1 0-0 0; FINCHER 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 10-14 58.

Arkansas-Little Rock (59) SARTI 8-15 1-2 18; KENNEDY 5-9 0-0 11; CASSIDY 2-8 4-5 9; STRONG 2-8 4-4 8; BROOKS 3-5 1-6 7; CASH 2-6 0-0 4; BEOUGHER 1-2 0-0 2; SINDELAR 0-1 0-0 0; DUNSETH 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 10-17 59.

Halftime-ULL 27, UALR-38. 3-point goals-ULL 2-11 (GREEN 1-4; EVANS 1-3; QUALLS 0-3; FORD 0-1), UALR 3-17 (KENNEDY 1-3; CASSIDY 1-4; SARTI 1-2; CASH 0-3; BEOUGHER 0-1; SINDELAR 0-1; DUNSETH 0-1; STRONG 0-2). Fouled out--ULL-None, UALR-None.

Rebounds-ULL 34 (RICHEY 8), UALR 40 (SARTI 7; BROOKS 7). Assists-ULL 9 (QUALLS 3; GREEN 3), UALR 10 (STRONG 3).

Total fouls-ULL 15, UALR 12. A-430

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

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