University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
ARKANSAS STATE*
The Magical Season Continues: Cajuns Win Outright Western Division Championship
2/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005
LAFAYETTE – The script couldn't have been written any better. Ashley Blanche delivered the game-winning jumper as time expired to give Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team a 66-64 victory over Arkansas State and the outright Sun Belt Conference Western Division championship. Blanche also delivered the tying basket as the horn sounded at the end of the first half.
Arkansas State (18-9, 11-3 Sun Belt) was led by Ali Carter who had a game-high 27 points, including 6-for-8 from three-point range. Louisiana-Lafayette (20-8, 10-5 Sun Belt) capped off only its second 20-win regular season in school history. Senior Anna Petrakova led the Cajuns with 23 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
The excitement began with 5.3 seconds remaining in regulation when Blanche was called for an offensive charging foul, giving possession back to Arkansas State. ASU in-bounded the ball, but the pass bounced off Rudy Sims' foot, giving the ball back to the Cajuns with 4.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
Blanche in-bounded the ball to Petrakova, who gave it back to a driving Blanche who shot over a Lady Indians defender as time expired.
Blanche, the game's hero, scored 12 points, while grabbing three boards. Blanche had three turnovers with no assists.
The Cajuns led only once in the game's first 30 minutes before the Cajuns took a 46-45 lead with 9:53 remaining in the game. From that point, the lead changed 11 times including the final outcome.
Petrakova scored on a turn-around jumper in the lane, giving the Cajuns a quick 2-0 lead with 19:45 remaining in the first half. From there, Arkansas State went on a 9-2 run to take a 9-4 lead with 15:25 left to play. Ali Carter led the Lady Indians with five points during the spurt.
While the Cajuns couldn't seem to make a shot early in the first half, the Lady Indians didn't seem to miss a shot. Carter hit three three-pointers, including a 25-foot triple that gave ASU a 10-point lead, 24-14.
With ASU leading 24-14 following the third media timeout at the 6:18 mark, the Cajuns' defense sparked a 15-5 run to tie the game at halftime, capped by Ashley Blanche's end-to-end buzzer beater from 10 feet.
With 6:53 left in the first half, Petrakova became the school's fourth all-time leading scorer, passing Alyson Habetz (1,192) with her 10th point of the game.
Carter extended the ASU lead back to four with fourth three-pointer of the half, 27-23, with 2:36 left to play in the first half.
Tiffany Washington added another basket, cutting the ASU to two, 27-25, with 1:45 remaining. ASU's Adrianne Davie added a basket to give the Lady Indians the 29-25 lead. The Cajuns, however, were not done as Melissa Bratton added a jumper with 15 seconds remaining before Blanche's equalizer.
Arkansas State's Carter led all scorers at halftime with 14 points, including 4-for-5 from three-point range. Carter, Davis and Zaneta Lane each had five rebounds.
Petrakova led the Cajuns with 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks.
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