LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team failed to get on track on Tuesday night as they dropped a 56-46 decision to the visiting McNeese State Cowgirls at the CAJUNDOME.
The Cajuns (0-7) used a 12-0 run in the second half to take the lead, but McNeese State (3-5) countered with a 10-0 run of their own to take the lead for good.
Louisiana was powered by a pair of double-digit scoring efforts. Coming off of her lowest point total of her UL career, Alexis Green rebounded to score at game-high 19 points. The junior was joined by Whitney Dunlap, who netted 10 points in the game for her first double-digit scoring effort of the season.
D'Mya Clay paced all players with 11 rebounds on the night.
The Cajuns found themselves down nine points, 26-17, at the 17:42 mark of the second half. That's when the hosts began to slowly chip away at the Cowgirls' lead.
It started with a Green free throw at 17:29. After Shante' Perry missed a three-pointer for MSU on the ensuing possession, Green worked her way inside to make a basket as she was fouled. She hit the freebie to complete the three-point play and close to deficit to 26-21.
Clay converted an offensive put back at 15:53 and the Cajuns' run continued. After the media timeout, Louisiana would overtake the Cowgirls thanks to 4-of-7 shooting.
UL came out of the media timeout and saw Jessica Sigue rebound a miss by Green and make a basket of her own and the MSU lead was 26-25. Just inside of 14 minutes a Nicole Morris fast break layup put UL in front 27-26.
Louisiana would force a turnover which led to Dunlap scoring a basket at 13:16 to push the Cajuns' lead to 29-26. Kiara Johnson ended McNeese's scoreless streak at 12:20. Green returned UL's lead back to three points, 31-28, with a jumper at the 12:01 mark.
The Cajuns went scoreless until the 8:48 mark and McNeese took advantage and reclaimed the lead built in the first stanza.
A layup by Perry with 11:25 on the clock cut the Louisiana lead to 31-30. A missed layup by Clay on the next possession led to a three-pointer by Ashlyn Baggett at 10:45 and the Cowgirls were back in front at 33-31. Another missed layup by Clay sent McNeese down the floor for a layup by Perry which extended the lead to 35-31.
Down 40-33, Louisiana made a pair of pushes at reclaiming the lead. A Dunlap three-pointer and free throws from Morris cut the MSU lead to 40-38 with 6:49 remaining in the game. The Cowgirls then rattled off six straight points to open a 46-38 lead by 5:01.
The Cajuns' second push began with Krystal Motley draining a trey at 4:40 to make it 46-41. A Green layup at 4:01 pulled UL within three points. However, that would be the final field goal and points the Ragin' Cajuns would get until 12 seconds remained and the Cowgirls rattled off the next eight points for a 54-43 lead.
It was a slow start for both teams. Combined the two teams missed the first 14 field goal attempts of the game.
Green worked along the baseline and slipped between two defenders for a layup at 15:25 to put UL on the board first for a 2-0 lead.
The Cowgirls broke a 3-all tie with four straight points by Caitlin Baggett. Baggett drove the baseline for a layup at 12:14 to give MSU a 5-3 edge. After the 11-minute media timeout, she connected on two free throw attempts at 11:52 pushing the Cowgirls' edge to 7-3.
Sigue drew Louisiana within two points (7-5) with an inside basket at 11:33. Seventeen seconds later Conceita Cutrer drained a triple from the top of the key and McNeese's lead was up to 10-5. Whitney Dunlap made triple of her own at 9:43 to slice the MSU lead to 10-8.
The Cajuns went scoreless until the 6:49 mark and the Cowgirls scored four unanswered to open their largest lead of the game at 14-8. A Becky Hall layup came at 6:49 and ended the Cajuns drought.
After the MSU lead returned to six points at 5:16, the Cajuns went to the free throw line to score the next three points. The last free throw, coming at 3:53 from Green, trimmed the deficit to 16-13.
A three-pointer by Baggett with 2:32 left in the opening half stretched the Cowgirls lead to 19-13. Clay scored a fade-away jumper for UL at 1:59 to move the Cajuns within four points. Baggett buried another three-pointer with 53 seconds on the clock making it 22-15 ? the largest lead of the half for MSU.
The iron was unkind to both squads in the first 20 minutes. Louisiana shot 17 percent (5-of-29) while McNeese was marginally better at 23 percent (7-of-31).
Louisiana takes to the road for its next outing. The Ragin' Cajuns travel to Thibodaux, La., to meet Nicholls State on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.
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