NEW ORLEANS-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team saw their 10-game winning streak over New Orleans snapped on Wednesday night as they fell, 56-46, to the Privateers on the road.
The game was close throughout most of the game, but a nine-minute scoring drought by the Cajuns in the second half allowed the hosts to build up an 11-point lead that UL could not overcome.
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak by the Cajuns over their in-state and Sun Belt rival New Orleans. The loss dropped the Cajuns to 1-5 against the Pelican State this season with just a pair of games remaining against Louisiana schools, marking the first losing record against state schools since the 2002-03 season.
The Ragin' Cajuns defense kept UL in the game as they held New Orleans to just 29-percent from the floor. However, the Cajuns were hurt by a 27.6-percent shooting effort of their own.
UNO won the rebounding battle, 54-37, despite the fact that the Privateers held just a two rebound edge at intermission.
The Ragin' Cajuns were led offensively by Alexis Green and Mercedes Johnson. For the 11th time this season, Green scored in double figures. The junior transfer had 10 points at the half and finished the game with 14. Johnson scored 12 points, including six points from the charity stripe.
Green and Jessica Sigue led the Cajuns with seven rebounds a piece. Sigue also chipped in a career-high seven points on the night.
New Orleans was led offensively by Cookie Johnson. She scored 19 points off the bench to pace the Privateers. Ty Felder led all players with 19 rebounds ? nine offensive and 10 defensive. Felder had 15 rebounds in the second half, tying the entire Cajuns team in the second half.
UNO started the game with a free throw to take a 1-0 lead just 18 seconds into play, however, the Cajuns countered with a jumper by Johnson to take a 2-1 lead with 19:13 remaining on the clock in the first half.
A triple and a layup by the hosts gave the Privateers a 6-2 advantage, but a trey by Nicole Morris trimmed the deficit to just one. Green drove the lane and gave the Cajuns their first lead of the game with a layup.
Johnson extended the UL lead to three points at 12:34 with a fast break layup, but a layup by Candice McGee to cut the Louisiana advantage to 9-8. A jumper by UNO gave the hosts a one-point edge, but a triple by Green gave the Cajuns a 12-10 lead with 10:50 to play in the half.
The Privateers took back the lead with back-to-back three-pointers.
A pair of free throws by Sigue cut the UNO advantage to just a pair, but a shot from the charity stripe for the Privateers extended the lead back to three.
Becky Hall drove the lane and trimmed the deficit to just one.
Following a basket by UNO, Amy Richard stole a pass and hit Jasmine Barnes down the court in transition to narrow the gap to 19-18 with just over five minutes to play in the half.
Both teams failed to score over the next two and a half minutes until UNO's Brittany Helm broke the scoring drought with a pair of free throws. A free throw by Green and a fast break layup by Krystal Motley knotted the score at 21-21.
A defensive stop by the Cajuns led to a Green jumper to take the lead with just under a minute to play in the first half. Michelle Brunker blocked a shot on the Privateers' next possession and a Green layup as time expired gave the Cajuns a 25-21 advantage at intermission.
New Orleans opened up the second half with a 10-to-0 run to take a six point lead ? the largest lead for either team to that point. UNO started the half with five quick points to take a 26-25 lead with 19:11 remaining in the game. A layup and a three-pointer gave the hosts a 31-25 advantage.
Johnson stopped the Privateer run with a jumper, but a pair of free throws pushed the UNO lead back to six points. On the Cajuns' next possession, Morris hit a midrange jumper to narrow the margin to just four, 33-29.
Both teams went on a scoring lull with just one point being scored between the two teams over the next six minutes. UNO broke the scoring drought with a layup with 10 minutes to play to take a five point lead. The home team extended their lead to 11 with back-to-back three pointers.
Jessica Sigue snapped the Cajuns' scoreless streak with a layup as she was fouled. She converted the three-point play and cut the UNO lead to 41-33 with 7:19 to play.
The Cajuns closed the gap to seven points but could get no closer in the final seven minutes as the two teams exchanged baskets and New Orleans claimed a 56-46 victory.
The Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team will return to action with a road game against Troy. The game against the Trojans is slated for 5:15 p.m. in Troy, Ala.
-www.RaginCajuns.com-
