Cajuns Host Georgia State Thursday In SBC Action

Game 13 - Louisiana (8-4, 0-3 SBC) vs. Georgia State (7-5, 2-1 SBC)
Thursday, Jan. 8, 2014 • 5 p.m. (CT) • Lafayette, La. – Cajundome (11,550)
Live Stats l Live Video l Radio: ESPN 1420 AM (PxP - Steve Peloquin)
Twitter Updates: @RaginCajunWBB
Louisiana WBB Home Page l Georgia State WBB Home Page
Louisiana Game Notes l Georgia State Game Notes

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team returns to action Thursday when the squad continues Sun Belt play by hosting Georgia State at 5 p.m. at the Cajundome.

Last Time Out
- Trailing 49-39 with eight minutes to play, the Cajuns put together a 10-2 run over the next three minutes, but Appalachian State outscored Louisiana 12-2 in the final five minutes to earn a 63-51 victory Monday in Boone
- Keke Veal led the Cajuns with 17 points, four assists and four steals
- Kia Wilridge recorded her team-best ninth double-figure scoring performance of the season, totaling 10 points and four assists
- Appalachian State recorded a 44.9 percentage (22-of-49) from the field and was 75 percent (18-of-24) from the charity stripe, while Louisiana shot 32.4 percent (22-of-68) and was just 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from the line

A Look at the Panthers
- Georgia State enters Thursday's matchup with the Cajuns carrying a 7-5 record and a 2-1 mark in the Sun Belt
- Currently tied for third in the league, the Panthers have earned wins over ULM (80-72) and Texas State (74-69) while falling to UALR (75-55)
- Thursday's game will be the first conference road game for the Panthers this season
- Georgia State leads the league in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 36.2 percent, and is second in the Sun Belt in scoring offense with 71.8 points per game
- Senior guard Kayla Nolan leads Georgia State with a team-high 12.3 points while contributing 2.1 steals per game
- Freshman guard Makeba Ponder is the squad's top outside shooter, hitting 44.1 percent (30-of-68) from long range this season to average 11.8 points per game
- Senior post Brittany Logan is close behind with an average of 11.5 points per contest while pulling down a team-best 9.9 boards a game

Series History
- Georgia State leads the all-time series 2-1
- Louisiana first took on the Panthers back in the 2008-09 season with Georgia State earning a 68-58 victory at the Blazer Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.
- The teams met twice last season with the Panthers picking up a 72-67 overtime win in Lafayette before the Cajuns split the series with a 67-63 victory in Atlanta

Up Next
- The Cajuns will take a week off before heading east to Georgia Southern on Thursday, Jan. 15 for a 4 p.m. (CT) game in Statesboro

Cajuns in the National Rankings
- As a team, the Cajuns defense has caused many problems for opponents this season, limiting teams to 57.5 points per game to tie for 49th in the nation
- The Cajuns have forced opponents to 20-plus turnovers on seven different occasions as teams are averaging 21.1 turnovers per game this season
- Louisiana ranks 26th nationally in turnover margin with teams recording 5.58 more turnovers per game than the Cajuns
- In 11 of 12 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 12 games of the season has her ranked among the best in the country
- Wilridge has totaled 32 steals on the season for an average of 2.7 per game to tie for 46th 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

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 --

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge