University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
vs. #5E Florida International Aeropostale Sun Belt Tournament
Another Historic Moment: Petrakova's Three-Point Play Provides First Sun Belt Tournament Win for the Cajuns Program
3/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Saturday, March 5, 2005
DENTON, Texas –
It seemed only
fitting that the first-ever Sun Belt Conference Tournament
victory in program history for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns
women's basketball team would have a thrilling end to it.
Trailing 58-53 with 2:40 left to play the Ragin' Cajuns (21-8) went on an 8-0 run that proved to be the difference in a contest which wouldn't have been as close had Cajuns star center Anna Petrakova gotten into foul trouble.
As a result, Louisiana-Lafayette hung on for a 61-60 victory which advances the program past the first round of the tournament in 13 appearances.
It was the Cajuns first conference tournament win since topping Texas-Pan American 95-47 on March 10, 1988 in the American South Conference Tournament held in Ruston, La.
Ragin' Cajuns head coach J. Kelley Hall becomes the first coach in program history to post a conference tournament win in the Sun Belt Conference and first since Wilo Colon led the 1987-88 team to the win over UTPA in the ASC event.
"All of the credit needs to go to our kids," said Louisiana-Lafayette head coach J. Kelley Hall. "They never stopped believing that we would get this victory and executed the gameplan flawlessly when it counted the most.
"It is an honor to be part of such an outstanding accomplishment for this program and our wonderful university," Hall said. "We are not finished though. We are not satisfied with just one win, we want to continue and reach our ultimate goal of a tournament championship."
Louisiana-Lafayette, the 2004-05 Sun Belt West Division champions, will return to action on Monday, March 7 in an 11 a.m. semifinal round game against the winner of Sunday's Arkansas State-South Alabama semifinal game. The game will be broadcast in the Lafayette viewing area on Cox Sports TV (cable channel 27).
Louisiana-Lafayette had the hot hand in the first half making 5-of-7 three-point field goals to open a lead as large as 31-15 with three minutes left in the opening half.
But, with 2:32 remaining before the break Petrakova picked up her third foul and the Golden Panthers responded with a 9-0 run that trimmed the halftime lead to 31-24.
Petrakova's foul trouble forced the Cajuns to back off defensively in the second half and as a result FIU (18-11) continued to get easy looks inside led by Milena Tomova who poured in 32 points. It was a Tomova triple with 10:25 left to play that tied the game and a pair of freebies by her at 9:41 that gave the Golden Panthers the lead at 43-41.
"Today's game was a very tough, physical game," Hall said. "I thought that our defense and rebounding were key, especially in the last two or three minutes."
After the three minute media timeout, Ragin' Cajuns head coach J. Kelley Hall told his team that they were going to step up the pressure defensively and pressure the Golden Panthers every possession. The plan worked as FIU succumbed to the Cajuns pressure missing their next three field goal attempts after a Tomova rebound of an apparent missed shot by Lasma Jekabsone made it 58-53.
A pair of Petrakova free throws at 2:11 cut the FIU lead to 58-55. The Cajuns defense forced Tomova into a missed jumper on the ensuing possession and senior Tiffany Washington was left wide open on the top of key for a three-pointer at 1:34 that tied the contest at 58-58.
After making the tying basket Washington would make the “hero” play of the day defensively on the next trip down the floor.
FIU's LaQuetta Ferguson was moving out on the left wing looking for a jumper to give the Golden Panthers the lead. Washington made sure that wouldn't happen as she stepped up a swatted the ball as it was leaving Ferguson's hands.
Melissa Bratton grabbed
the loose ball and the Cajuns began their march to what
would eventually amount to the game-winning possession.
The play of the game was set up on a timeout called by Hall with 34 seconds showing on the game clock and just five seconds remaining on the shot clock.
The ball was fed into Petrakova out on the left wing. The Moscow, Russia native calmly worked her way into the lane and put up a hook shot. She was fouled on the shot by Tomova with 30.7 seconds showing on the clock. The ball danced off the back of the rim and onto the front of the rim before rolling in.
Petrakova nailed the free throw to complete the three-point play – the one point that turned out to be the deciding factor in the contest.
FIU drove down the floor quickly and got a layup from Faeza Bouderra to cut the Cajuns lead to 61-60.
The Golden Panthers fouled Bernette Tolston and sent her to the line with 20 seconds left to play. Tolston missed both ends of the two-shot charity allowing FIU a second life.
FIU tried to find Tomova for an open look but never could. A battle for the loose ball off what would have been a Golden Panthers turnovers ate up the final four seconds of the game and sent the Ragin' Cajuns bench into a frenzy.
Petrakova led the Cajuns with 24 points and 10 rebounds and overcame a sluggish performance in which she turned the ball over a game-high seven times.
Washington scored 11 and Bratton collected 10 points as Louisiana-Lafayette placed three scorers in double figures.
Tomova led the Golden Panthers with a game-high 32 points, but the rest of her teammates accounted for just 28 points. Tomova made 13-of-26 field goals and carried FIU on her back in the second half as she scored 25 of the Golden Panthers' 36 points.
The Cajuns outrebounded FIU 35-27 and held a 21-9 edge on the boards by halftime. The Golden Panthers pulled down 18 second-half rebounds as the Cajuns were forced to back off defensively due to foul trouble.
The Cajuns started off slow leading just 6-5 at the first media timeout. FIU was working the inside game in the first two minutes to stay within striking distance.
Tolston made a running hook at 17:12 to give the Cajuns a 6-5 lead. The defenses took over from there as no field goal was made over the next three-plus minutes.
Bratton began a string of three straight triples for Louisiana-Lafayette on three straight possessions that opened the first double-digit lead of the contest. Bratton's triple came at 13:53 and was followed by three-pointers from Washington and Tolston at 13:24 and 12:38 respectively that pushed the lead to 15-5.
FIU worked the deficit to 17-11 getting triples at 11:38 and 10:58. The three-pointer at 11:38 by Eva Makela was the Golden Panthers' first points since a Tomova freebie at 17:45.
A Petrakova turnaround layup at 9:52 followed by a Tolston three-point basket at 9:16 vaulted the Cajuns back to a double-digit lead at 22-11.
Leading 26-15, Petrakova was good on a turnaround jumper at 4:02 and then after a pair of missed free throws by Tomova at 3:40, Bratton made her second triple of the game to make it 31-15.
Petrakova picked up her third foul less than one minute later and was forced to miss the remainder of the half. FIU took advantage using a 9-0 run to make the deficit workable.
GAME NOTES
• Louisiana-Lafayette has advanced past the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in 13 appearances. Prior to today's win, the lone conference tournament win in program history came on March 10, 1988 in Ruston, La. against Texas-Pan American (W, 95-47) in the American South Conference Tournament.
• The Cajuns 21 wins this season equal the win total from the first two seasons under head coach J. Kelley Hall (8-19 in 2002-03, 13-15 in 2003-04).
• Louisiana-Lafayette has now won four consecutive games and seven of its last eight games since a 60-56 loss at Denver on Thursday, Feb. 3.
• The Ragin' Cajuns win over FIU was their 21st of the season – second-most in team history. A win on Monday night will tie their all-time season-high total wins of 22 (1983-84 season).
• Today's win completes a two-game sweep of FIU this season. Combined with a 58-48 win at Earl K. Long Gym during the 2003-04 season, the Cajuns have now won three straight over FIU after starting the series with nine consecutive losses.
• The win evens head coach J. Kelley Hall's career coaching record at 42-42. His 42 wins are two more than former head coach Gay Nix had in her six seasons combined (1996-2002) and it only took Hall three seasons to do so.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
