UALR?S Solid Shooting Knocks Down Cajuns

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.?UALR shot a staggering 60.7 from the floor as the Trojans avenged last season's loss with an 83-51 win over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

The loss snapped Louisiana's (5-10, 1-3 Sun Belt) three-game winning streak against UALR (10-5, 2-2 Sun Belt), while the Trojans moved to 7-0 at home. Louisiana fell to 0-8 on the road this season.

Alicia McDaniel (Houston, Texas) led the Cajuns offensively with a team-high 16 points, while Courtney Ratliff (Canton, Miss.) added 10 points. Senior Onna Charles (New Iberia, La.) poured in five points, moving her five away from becoming the 12th player in school history with 1,000 career points.

UALR's Nikya Hughes led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Kim Sitzmann added 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range, while Anshel Cooper chipped in 10.

Louisiana scored five of the second half's first seven points, but UALR kept providing an answer to each Cajuns basket. With the Trojans leading by 14, Sitzmann drilled her fifth triple of the game, extending UALR's lead to 17 points, 48-31.

The Trojans then built their commanding lead to 20, 53-33, after Hughes converted a three-point play. A 10-2 run by UALR provided for a 25-point Trojans cushion, 60-35. After two consecutive Cajuns baskets, UALR followed with a 10-0 run for a 70-39 advantage.

UALR came out shooting to open the first half as the home-standing Trojans hit five of their first seven shots to take a 12-7 lead entering the first media timeout. McDaniel contributed four of Louisiana's first seven points.

Following the media timeout, McDaniel added four more to total to help keep Louisiana within five, 16-11, with 11:53 remaining in the opening period. Early in the first half, the Cajuns had no apparent solution to Sitzmann who knocked down three three-pointers for the Trojans, extending UALR's lead to 21-11.

UALR's lead grew larger as the Trojans capped a 16-4 run to take a commanding 15-point 28-13 edge with less than seven minutes remaining before halftime. The Trojans were able to contain McDaniel, while holding the rest of the Cajuns lineup to just 2-of-7 from the floor.

In the game's first 13 minutes, the Trojans forced nine Louisiana turnovers that would continue to aid UALR's double-digit advantage.

However, a 7-2 spurt by the Cajuns cut the UALR deficit to 10 points, 30-20, but the Trojans added a basket on their ensuing possession to snap UL's streak.

After the final media break of the first half, Sitzmann promptly hit her fourth triple of the period, bringing UALR's lead back to 15 points, 35-20. The Cajuns scored the last bucket of the half on a Ratliff tip-in to beat the buzzer.

McDaniel paced the Cajuns with a team-high 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the opening stanza. Ratliff chipped in six points in 15 minutes. Sitzmann led all scorers with 12 points in the first half, draining four treys, while Anshel Cooper and Nikya Hughes each added eight for the Trojans.

Louisiana shot 39.3 percent from the floor in the first half, connecting on 11-of-28 shots. UALR shot an impressive 55.2 percent from floor, while forcing 10 Louisiana turnovers.

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns return to action Saturday when they travel to Denton, Texas, to face the North Texas Mean Green. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at The Super Pit.

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

UALR?S Solid Shooting Knocks Down Cajuns

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UALR?S Solid Shooting Knocks Down Cajuns

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