UL Surrenders First Half Lead, Falls to DU

LAFAYETTE?Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns were clinging to a nine-point lead in the first half until Denver went on a 19-1 run to reclaim the lead and hand the Cajuns a 67-46 defeat here Saturday evening in the CAJUNDOME.

Before the DU run, the Cajuns (3-11, 0-3 Sun Belt) had rattled off 10 unanswered to open a 17-8 lead with 13:22 remaining in the first half. The Pioneers' run put the visitors in front with their own nine-point lead by the 5:27 mark.

From there the closest Louisiana would get was six points, 31-25 at the half.

The Cajuns were led by a game-high 17 points from Mercedes Johnson and 13 from Alexis Green.

Denver (7-6, 2-1 Sun Belt) placed four players in double figures led by 14 from Kaetlyn Murdoch and Britteni Rice.

The Ragin' Cajuns remain winless in the CAJUNDOME (0-4) this season and winless in three home Sun Belt contests. Denver collected its largest win in the series since a 73-49 victory on Feb. 7, 2004.

Denver scored the game's first four points and held the lead through the first three minutes. The Cajuns grabbed their first lead at 16:52 when Alexis Green knocked down a jumper to put the hosts up 7-6.

After the Pioneers reclaimed the lead on a layup by Murdoch at 16:26, the Ragin' Cajuns rolled off a 10-0 run to open a nine-point edge. Johnson began the rally with a triple at the 15:53 mark.

Back-to-back buckets from Jasmine Barnes ? 14 seconds apart and the second coming off a DU turnover ? quickly pushed the lead to 14-8 before the 15 minute mark expired. A three-point make by Nicole Morris capped off the UL run and it was 17-8 with 13:22 remaining in the opening half.

Louisiana wouldn't make another basket until the 5:16 mark. During the stretch the Pioneers rattled off 14 unanswered points to pull ahead 22-17. The Cajuns got a free throw from Green at 6:57 to end the Pioneers' run and cut the deficit to 22-18. Five consecutive DU points over the next 1:30 let the visitors stretch the lead to nine points.

Louisiana cut into the Pioneers' lead in the final 1:22 and went into the locker room only down six points. A free throw from Michelle Brunker at 1:22 made it 31-23. After a DU miss, the Cajuns went back up the court and found Johnson for a layup with 44 seconds left in the half that cut the deficit to 31-25.

The Pioneers took advantage of 20 points in the paint in the first stanza, outscoring Louisiana by 14 in that category.

A three-pointer by Ashly Robinson was DU's first make of the second half and it re-upped the lead to nine points (34-25). Green answered for UL at the 18:19 mark with a jumper that reduced the margin to seven points.

DU returned the edge to nine points a mere 36 seconds later thanks to another field goal make by Robinson. A block by Rice on the Cajuns' next touch led to a layup by Rice at 17:33 which sent the Denver edge into double figures for the rest of the game.

After Rice's basket the Pioneers rolled off five more points to push the lead to 43-27.

Green converted a three-pointer with 12:15 remaining in the game to slice the Denver lead to 47-35. Twelve seconds later, Andie Mason countered with a three-point make of her own at 12:03.

Johnson made two free throws for the Cajuns at the 11:52 mark to make it a 13-point game. That's the closest UL would get the rest of the way. DU scored the game's next eight points getting two baskets apiece from Brianna Culberson and Murdoch. After those baskets the lead was 58-37 and DU's lead never dropped below 20 points in the final 7:28.

The Ragin' Cajuns take to the road for the first time in Sun Belt play this season on Wednesday, Jan. 7 as they travel to New Orleans to face the UNO Privateers at 7 p.m., in Lakefront Arena. It's the first meeting between the two programs at Lakefront Arena since the 2004-05 season (arena was closed for renovations the past three seasons following Hurricane Katrina).

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

UL Surrenders First Half Lead, Falls to DU

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UL Surrenders First Half Lead, Falls to DU

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