University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Arkansas St.
Ragin' Cajuns vs. Arkansas State
3/5/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lafayette- Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns are heading back to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game thanks to a 62-59 victory over Arkansas State on Monday afternoon.
Louisiana (25-7) will face No. 16 Middle Tennessee (28-3) on Tuesday at 3pm for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The game will be televised live on ESPN+. The Blue Raiders have won 25 consecutive games, the longest winning streak in the nation.
ASU falls to 20-12.
Head coach J. Kelley Hall's Cajuns led 31-26 at the half, marking the 77th time in his career he carried the lead into the second stanza. Hall has only lost nine of those games, but four came at the hands of ASU, including both regular season meetings this year.
A basket by Rudy Sims with 23.8 seconds left tied the game. The corresponding foul by Alicia McDaniel put Sims at the line with a chance to put ASU ahead and had some wondering ?not again'.
Sims missed the freebie and Jeanenne Colbert found Sonora Edwards in the lane who converted her own three-point play with only six seconds to play.
Sims went to the line to shoot a pair with 1.1 seconds remaining, but missed both free throws. Yolanda Jones grabbed the final rebound to secure her 19th double-double of the season.
The Cajuns dominated the boards 47-29, including 24-8 on the offensive glass.
Jones led four Cajuns in double figures with 19 points and had 10 rebounds. Edwards completed her seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 boards. Colbert had 12 points and seven assists, while Onna Charles finished with 11 points. Alicia McDaniel notched seven points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Sims led the Indians with 18 points, while Adrianne Davie had 17 points.
Two quick baskets to start the second half by Jones gave the Cajuns a nine-point lead, 35-26.
A 6-0 run by ASU sliced the Cajuns lead down to three, but McDaniel buried a triple from the corner to kick the hosts lead to six, 40-34, at 12:48.
Davie scored for the Indians, but Kina Miller answered for the Cajuns and then Charles knocked down a three-point basket to give the Cajuns back their nine-point lead, 45-36, with 8:49 left.
Back came ASU. A Davie jumper and a three pointer from Sims took the Cajuns lead down to four, 45-41, with 7:31 on the clock.
A triple by Colbert, two free throws by Colbert and a steal and break away lay-up from McDaniel pushed the Cajuns lead back to nine points for the third time in the second half. UL led 52-43 with 4:04 to play.
Sims converted a three-point play at 3:47 to cut the ASU deficit to six points. A basket by Veronica Smith at 2:40 saw the Cajuns lead back down to four, 54-50.
Sims hit a triple with 90 seconds remaining to make it a one possession game, but Charles converted a big lay-up at the 57-second mark. A Smith triple nine seconds later cut the Cajuns lead to two, 58-56.
McDaniel and Ali Carter traded free throws before Sims tied the game with 23.8 seconds remaining.
The first half was very close until the Cajuns gained separation late.
There were three quick lead changes in the opening minutes until a pair of three's by ASU gave the guests a five-point lead, 11-6, at 16:19.
The Indians lead vaulted to nine points, 17-8, as ASU capped a 12-2 run since UL held a 6-5 edge.
The Cajuns responded with an 11-2 burst to tie the game, 19-19, at 6:50. Edwards started the run with a bucket in the paint. Jones followed with two lay-ups around two from the stripe by Charles. Colbert's long triple knotted the game.
Davie pushed ASU back in front with two buckets in the paint, but Jones and Charles answered for UL to keep the game deadlocked with 3:58 remaining in the first half.
After the final media timeout of the half, Colbert drove around a pair of defenders and hit a difficult lay-up and Jones nailed a three pointer from the top of the arc to give the Cajuns a 28-23 lead.
The Cajuns held their five-point lead and went into the half in front 31-26.
