Late Rally Falls Short

LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team trailed by as many as 18 in the second half, but used a late rally to trim the deficit to as little as eight points with under a minute to play. However, the Cajuns rally fell just short as Louisiana dropped a 74-62 decision to New Orleans on Sunday night at the CAJUNDOME.

Trailing by 17 with 2:53 remaining in the game, Louisiana used a 9-to-0 run to pull to within eight points of New Orleans with 48 seconds to play.

Becky Hall started the run with a pair of free throws. Following a defensive stop, D'Mya Clay netted a jumper to close the gap.

Neither team was able to score for the next 45 seconds, until Mercedes Johnson made a pair of baskets from the charity stripe to pull the Cajuns to with in 11 at 66-55. A free throw by Amy Richard combined with a fast break layup by Johnson cut the margin to 66-58 with 48 ticks on the clock.

The Cajuns had to foul to try to get the ball back and UNO was able to regain an 11 points advantage until a triple by Alexis Green cut the margin back down to eight (70-62) with 32 seconds remaining.

New Orleans extended the lead back to 10 points with a pair of free throws and a jumper with four seconds left sealed the game for the Privateers.

The Cajuns were led by Johnson who netted a career-high 21 points. Johnson's 21 points in the game marked the 13th time in Sun Belt Conference play that the freshman had reached the double-digit plateau. Johnson shot 80-percent on the night, finishing the game 8-for-10 from the floor with a three pointer.

Two other UL players posted double-digit performances on the night, as Green and Jasmine Barnes netted 15 and 12, respectively. For Green, her 15 points marked the 23rd time this season the transfer scored in double figures. Green has posted double digit scoring efforts in all 15 Sun Belt games she has played. Barnes finished the game with her eighth double-digit scoring effort of the season.

Richard led all Cajuns with seven rebounds, while Green grabbed five boards on the night.

In the first half, the two teams came out slow and at the first media timeout the score was 6-2 in favor of the visiting Privateers.

The offense picked up as the half progressed as the two teams exchanged baskets. Nicole Morris' basket with just under 10 minutes to play in the half cut the UNO lead to 18-14.

New Orleans extended their lead to as many as 10 points (28-18) with 6:01 remaining in the half, but two quick baskets by Barnes and Morris trimmed the deficit to just six.

A Johnson free throw with 1:31 remaining in the half cut the UNO lead to eight points, 35-27, but back-to-back triples by the Privateers gave the visitors a 14-point advantage (41-27) ? the largest lead of the half.

The Cajuns used a pair of fast breaks by Barnes to trim the deficit to 10 points and go into halftime trailing 41-31.

Both teams shot well in the opening half. New Orleans finished the half shooting 54.8 percent from the floor, while the Ragin' Cajuns boasted a 44.8 field goal percentage. UNO took advantage of six three pointers to help amass their 10-point halftime lead.

The second half saw the two teams battle even for the first eight and a half minutes. Despite only having one field goal made in the first eight and a half minutes, the Ragin' Cajuns kept the Privateers within striking distance, 51-41, thanks to solid free throw shooting by Louisiana.

Trailing by 14, Barnes drained a mid-range jumper to cut the margin to a dozen, but a mini run by the Privateers extended their lead to 18 points (61-43) with 8:45 to play.

Mercedes Johnson stopped the run with a layup at the 8:15 mark of the half.

Louisiana was able to use a late run to trim UNO's lead to as little as eight, but could get no closer and fell for the 16th time this season in conference play.

The Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball will play their final home game of the season on Wednesday night as they take on Troy in a Sun Belt Conference match-up. Tip-off for the game with the Trojans is 7:00 p.m. at historic Earl K. Long Gym.

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

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