University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
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Texas-El Paso
Ragin' Cajuns vs. UTEP
12/10/2006 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
EL PASO, Texas-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team lost their third game of season as they fell 70-49 to UTEP on Sunday afternoon at the Don Haskins Center.
The Cajuns dropped to 7-3 on the season, while the Miners improved to 7-1. The Cajuns fell to 2-22 under head coach J. Kelley Hall when opponents score 70 or more points.After being tied 28-28 at the half, UL was outscored 42-21 in the second half. The Cajuns shot just 26-percent for the game, despite shooting 36-percent from three-point range and 72-percent from the charity stripe.
After holding the Miners to just 33-percent from the floor in the first half, the Cajuns' defense allowed UTEP to shoot 52-percent in the second half, giving them a 42.2 shooting percentage for the game.UL committed 24 turnovers on the day, which led to 22 UTEP points.
The Cajuns had no answer for UTEP's Izabela Piekarska and Shalana Taylor.Piekarska finished the game with 22 points, including three devastating triples. She also added 10 blocks on the afternoon.
Taylor, on the other hand, was a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc despite playing just 19 minutes due to foul trouble.Leading the Cajuns were Yolanda Jones and Alicia McDaniel. Jones scored 13 points on the day, while McDaniel added 11.
Sonora Edwards led the Cajuns with nine boards and Kina Miller blocked three shots to lead UL.Edwards broke a scoreless tie with a triple from the top of the key and Jones added a pair of free throws to give UL a 5-0 edge at the 17:54 mark of first half.
The Ragin' Cajuns lead was short lived as the Miners used a three-pointer and a jumper to tie the game at 5-5 with 16:20 left to play in the half.Neither team managed a basket until Taylor hit her second three-pointer of the game to give the Miners their first lead of the game at 12:20.
The Cajuns responded as McDaniel made a pair of triples and Onna Charles added a pair of free throws to take a 13-8 lead with 11-minutes remaining in the half.Once again, UTEP answered with a run of their own. The Miners tied the game at 13-13, but UL countered with a 7-0 run spanning the next 2:18.
During the run, Miller netted a pair of free throws, while McDaniel converted a fast-break lay-up off of a pass from Jeanenne Colbert. Edwards followed with her second triple of the game from the top of the key to push the score to 20-13.After surrendering a lay-up, Colbert hit a three from the top of the key to give UL their biggest lead of the afternoon at 23-15.
A lay-up and a three-pointer cut the Cajuns advantage to 23-20 with 3:30 remaining in the half.With the Cajuns leading 24-20, the Miners used a lay-up and a pair of free throws to tie the score.
The two teams traded baskets over the final two-minutes and headed into the locker room tied at 28-28.The teams picked up where they left off at the end of the first half.
Jones opened the half with a jumper just inside the arc, but UTEP responded with a lay-up to keep the score knotted at 30-30.The Miners drained a wide open three to give UTEP their second lead of the night.
Jones answered with a trey from top of the key to tie the score at 33-33 with 17:25 to play.Trailing by two, Jones scored once again tied the score. Her fade-away jumper with 16-minutes to play knotted the game at 35-35.
Over the next three minutes, UTEP used three triples to build a lead. UTEP's Taylor drained her fourth trey of the game and Piekarska netted back-to-back baskets from behind the arc to take 44-38 lead.UTEP built their lead to as many as 10 points before Charles drained a three from the left side.
Jones made a lay-up, but three consecutive baskets by Piekarska extended the Miners lead to 11 points.A pair of free throws by McDaniel cut the Miners' edge to less than 10 points, but a pair of baskets saw the Cajuns fall behind by 13 with 6:59 to play.
Piekarska's third three-pointer of the night extended the UTEP lead to 16 points and all-but put the Cajuns away.The Cajuns trailed by as many as 21 before falling by a final score of 70-49.
The Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team will play the final game of their season-opening 11-game road swing as they open Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday, Dec. 14, at the University of New Orleans. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
