University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Maryland-Eastern Shore
Ragin' Cajuns vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore
11/14/2006 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team completed play in the Basketball Travelers Classic at the Frank Erwin Center with its most dominant performance of the three-day event posting a 68-36 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore.
The Ragin' Cajuns (2-1) scored the game's first nine points and forced UMES (0-4) into missing 24 of their first 25 shots opening up a 36-2 lead 15 minutes into the game.
The UL defense held the Hawks to 3-of-33 shooting in the first fame holding UMES to eight points ? the fewest first-half points allowed under co-head coach J. Kelley Hall.
The Ragin' Cajuns were able to take full advantage of a fatigued UMES squad which was playing its fourth game in as many nights and couldn't keep up with the relentless intensity of Hall's Cajuns.
The victory assured the Cajuns of a runner-up slot in the Basketball Travelers Classic hosted by Texas. It also avenged a 60-57 loss to UMES in the 2003 Maryland Terrapin Classic.
Onna Charles was the leading scorer for Louisiana-Lafayette for the second straight game. The junior from New Iberia scored 19 points made three 3-pointers in 28 minutes. Charles ended the tournament with 11 triples and a scoring average of 16.7 points.
Sonora Edwards and Kina Miller joined Charles in double figures as both posted 10 points. They led the Cajuns inside domination which featured a 32-10 edge on points in the paint and a 27-0 margin in second chance points.
Even more impressive of the Cajuns domination is that the performance occurred without the services of returning leading scorer Yolanda Jones. Jones sat out of the contest recovering from an ankle injury suffered in Sunday's Texas State game.
Rebounding was another strongpoint of the UL attack. The Cajuns pulled down 57 boards led by 10 from Charles. Alicia McDaniel added nine rebounds, Edwards had eight and Miller tacked on seven.
The Hawks got a team-best 11 points from Kristi Veltkamp.
The Cajuns defense forced UMES to miss its first eight shot attempts and used a 9-0 run to open a comfortable lead 5:27 into the game.
A one minute blitz by the Cajuns broke open a three-point contest and the Cajuns lead was never any smaller.
As the clocked ticked under 17 minutes Miller dribble into the lane and found McDaniel behind the defense for an uncontested layup that gave UL a 5-0 lead at 16:51.
Charles would follow her miss on a three-point attempt and knocked down jumper at 16:02 pushing the lead to 7-0.
The Cajuns game-opening run reached nine points on the next possession when the Cajuns went backdoor once more. Miller was at the top of the key and used excellent court vision to find Edwards behind the defense on the baseline for a reverse layup at 15:33 making it 9-0.
The Hawks broke the run with an inside basket from Veltkamp at 15:08.
Following the 15-minute media timeout the Cajuns began another run which left no doubt of the game's final outcome.
Miller started a 27-0 run when she grabbed a pass from Whitney Dunlap and backdoored the Hawks defense for a layup at 14:23 upping the UL lead to 11-2.
The Cajuns defense would force the Hawks to miss their next 16 shots and Charles delivered the knockout punch.
Charles buried three triples between the 13:40 mark and 12:05 mark as the Cajuns lead soared to 20-2.
The UL margin grew to 20 points for the rest of the game only nine minutes into the half. Inside baskets from Edwards and Miller 25 seconds apart increased the lead to 24-2 with 10:37 remaining in the first half.
A three-pointer by Amber Williams capped off the run and moved the Cajuns lead to 36-2 at 5:26. A triple by Candyce Jeter would be the Hawks first basket since the 15:08 mark and broke a string of 27 unanswered points by UL.
The Cajuns defense backed off in the second half committing only one foul. Easing up allowed the Hawks to outscore the Ragin' Cajuns 28-27 in the second stanza, trimming the halftime deficit by one point.
The Cajuns largest lead of the night came at 14:01 when Dunlap made a free throw that moved the UL lead to 54-15.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns return to action on Thursday, Nov. 16 meeting No. 10 Louisiana State at 7:00 p.m., in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
