Cajuns Fall on the Road to Middle Tennessee

Box Score

Until Middle Tennessee outscored them by 31 points to end the first half, the Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team was within striking distance Saturday evening at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

As a result of the huge scoring advantage the Blue Raiders were able to pull away for a 104-53 victory.

Starting at the 12:54 mark of the first half, UL (5-10, 0-3 Sun Belt) made baskets on three straight possessions the last a triple by Michelle Brunker at 11:19 to keep pace with MT (12-5, 4-0 Sun Belt) and slice the deficit to 20-16. The Cajuns were shooting 7-of-11 through the 11-minute media timeout.

The Cajuns would miss their next three field goal attempts and were held scoreless through the 6:35 mark. The Blue Raiders rattled off 14 unanswered points for a 34-16 edge.

Bianca Davis knocked down a three-pointer with 6:35 remaining in the opening stanza to end UL's scoreless streak and drop the MT lead to 34-19.

Davis later converted a layup at 4:30 and it was 44-23, but that would be the Cajuns last bucket of the half and the Blue Raiders scored the final 14 points of the half for a 58-23 halftime lead.

UL shot nearly 50 percent in the first half, but was unable to get many shot opportunities as MT held a commanding 25-8 rebounding edge (17 offensive rebounds) which allowed the hosts to make and attempt twice as many field goals.

Middle Tennessee outscored the Cajuns 46-30 in the second stanza and led by 40-plus points for the final 11:47 of play.

Louisiana was led by Brunker's career-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Krystal Motley and Davis joined her in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Blue Raiders saw five players score double figures led by a game-high 23 points from Kortni Jones.

The Ragin' Cajuns, playing without leading rebounders Mercedes Johnson and Kemi Rotibi who are out for the remainder of the season, were out-rebounded 50-30 and surrendered 56 points in the paint to the Blue Raiders.

Still in search of their first Sun Belt win of the 2011-12 season, Louisiana returns home next week for meetings with South Alabama on Wednesday at Earl K. Long Gym and FIU at the Cajundome on Saturday.

The Cajuns grabbed a pair of leads in the opening minutes. Motley opened the scoring with a baseline jumper on a second-chance opportunity at 19:38 and at 17:38 Brunker caught a cross-court pass from Nicole Morris for a layup that put UL ahead 4-2.

Ebony Rowe scored baskets on back-to-back MT possessions to give the hosts a 6-4 lead by the 16:52 mark. Motley pulled UL even at 6-all at 16:33 with a stop-and-pop jumper.

Laken Leonard rained home a triple from the left corner nine seconds later to return the lead to the Blue Raiders for good.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Fall on the Road to Middle Tennessee

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