Cajuns Host Troy In Sun Belt Home Opener Saturday

Game 11 - Louisiana (8-2, 0-1 SBC) vs. Troy (5-5, 0-1 SBC)
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2014 • 5 p.m. (CT) • Lafayette, La. – Cajundome (11,550)
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LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team looks to rebound after suffering their worst loss of the season to UALR when the Cajuns host Troy at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Cajundome in the team's Sun Belt Conference home opener.

Last Time Out
- A season-low 41 points and 25.0 shooting percentage cost the Cajuns a 67-41 road defeat to UALR on Tuesday in Louisiana's Sun Belt Conference opener
- Kia Wilridge and Jaylyn Gordon reached double figures for the fourth-straight game, each totaling 14 points to lead the Cajuns
- Simone Fields added eight points while Keke Veal finished with five points and a team-high five rebounds and three assists
- UALR outscored the Cajuns 34-12 in the paint to finish with a 51.0 shooting percentage. The Trojans held an edge on the glass, outrebounding Louisiana 47-28 and finishing with a 20-12 advantage in second chance points

A Look at the Trojans
- Troy enters Saturday's contest with a 5-5 record on the season and a 0-1 mark in Sun Belt Conference play
- The Trojans opened up SBC action earlier this week with a 74-72 setback to Texas State at home
- Troy has played one common opponent as the Cajuns in Southeastern Louisiana, a team they defeated 80-78 at home on Nov. 21. Louisiana pulled out a 71-60 win in Hammond on Nov. 29
- The Trojans lead the Sun Belt in rebounds (43.3) and steals (11.9) per game, and are second in the league with an average of 15.1 assists per contest
- Junior guard Ashley Beverly-Kelley (15.1 ppg) and senior forward Ronita Garrett (14.6 ppg) have paced the Trojans offense this season under third-year head coach Chanda Rigby. Garrett also leads the Trojans on the glass, averaging a double-double with 10.5 boards per game
- Beverly-Kelley averages a team-best 3.4 assists and 2.3 steals per contest

Series History
- Louisiana and Troy are tied 7-7 in the all-time series
- The Cajuns are 6-1 at home in a series that dates back to the 2005-06 season
- Troy's lone win in Lafayette came on Feb. 25, 2009 when the Trojans came away with a 93-52 victory. Since then, the Cajuns have won four straight at home
- The teams split the series last season with Troy defeating the Cajuns, 87-75, in Alabama before Louisiana recorded a 62-57 victory a month later in Lafayette

Up Next
- The Cajuns will travel to Appalachian State on Monday, Jan. 5 as Louisiana takes on the Mountaineers at 4 p.m. (CT) in the first-ever meeting between the two teams

Cajuns in the National Rankings
- As a team, the Cajuns defense has caused many problems for opponents this season, limiting teams to 56.7 points per game for 40th in the country
- The Cajuns have forced opponents to 20-plus turnovers on five different occassions as teams are averaging 21.1 turnovers per game this season
- In nine of 10 games, a team has committed at least 15 turnovers with Louisiana Tech being the one exception (14)
- Junior guard Kia Wilridge's tenacious defense through the first 10 games of the season has her ranked among the best in the country
- Wilridge has totaled 29 steals on the season, 23 of those coming in the last six games, for an average of 2.9 steals per game to rank 34th in the nation

Nine-Game Start
- With an 8-1 non-conference record this season, the Cajuns matched their best nine-game start in program history
- After dropping their season opener to SMU in the 2005-06 season, the Cajuns reeled off eight-straight wins under former head coach J. Kelley Hall to also start the season 8-1

Louisiana's Upset Bid Falls Short
- Louisiana held a 34-22 advantage over No. 20 Mississippi State with less than five minutes to play in the first half, but a 10-0 run by the Bulldogs to end the period carried momentum over to the other side as MSU pulled out a 66-51 victory Dec. 17 at the Cajundome
- Keke Veal led the Cajuns with 17 points while Jaylyn Gordon added 13, shooting 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Kia Wilridge finished with 10 points and a team-high seven boards and four steals
- Louisiana held one of the nation's top offenses to 23 points below its season average as Mississippi State came into Wednesday's contest averaging 89.2 points per game to rank fifth in the nation
- The Cajuns also forced the Bulldogs into 24 turnovers, the fourth-straight game a Louisiana opponent has committed at least 20 turnovers
- Cold shooting haunted the Cajuns a majority of the game, finishing with a season-low 27.7 percentage from the floor including an 18.8 percent clip in the second half

Cajuns Match Best Start in Program History
- After their win over Southern-New Orleans, the Cajuns matched their best start in program history at 6-0
- In 1983, the Cajuns started off the season 6-0 under first-year head coach Ross Cook, eventually recording the program's first 20-win season with a 22-6 record

Cajuns Picked Sixth in the Sun Belt
- After tying for seventh in the Sun Belt Conference a season ago, the league's 11 head coaches tabbed the Cajuns sixth with 64 points in the SBC Preseason Poll
- Arkansas State was picked first with 118 points, receiving nine of the 11 first-place votes, while UALR was a close second with 112 points and two first-place votes
- Texas State (93), Georgia State (82) and Troy (70) rounded out the top five in the poll

Veal, Wilridge Named All-SBC Preseason
- Junior guards Keke Veal and Kia Wilridge were selected to the All-Sun Belt Conference Preseason Team, voted on by the league's head coaches
- Veal was named to the second team while Wilridge earned a spot on the third team
- Louisiana was joined by Arkansas State, Georgia State, South Alabama, Texas State and UALR in placing a league-high two players on the preseason team

-- RaginCajuns.com --

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Players Mentioned

Simone Fields

Jaylyn Gordon

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge