Cajuns Rally Forces UALR to Hold On At Game's End

Team	1	2	F
UALR	31	37	68
Louisiana	23	43	66

UALR

Louisiana

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team nearly erased a 22-point deficit in the second half before time expired and Sun Belt-leading UALR held on for a 68-66 win Thursday at the Cajundome.

The Cajuns (18-10, 10-9 Sun Belt), who trailed 50-28 with 12:53 remaining, had closed their deficit to 65-63 with 9.3 seconds left after a Jodi Quinn basket.

UALR (25-4, 18-2 Sun Belt) received two free throws from Kaitlyn Pratt to create a two-possession lead, 67-63, with 8.5 seconds showing. The Trojans would intercept a length-of-court pass by Robbie Brown snuffing out the Cajuns' last effort at completing the comeback.

Kia Wilridge connected on a triple as the final horn sounded resulting in the final margin and leaving Louisiana wondering about missed shots in a the opening half in which the team shot 34.6 percent (9-of-26).

Wilridge led a quartet of Cajuns in double figures with a team-best 16 points. Jaylyn Gordon (15), Keke Veal (14) and Brown (10) were the others in double figures.

UALR was paced by the trio of Pratt, Alexius Dawn and Taylor Gault who each scored 17 points.

Louisiana completed its 2014-15 home schedule with an 11-5 mark, the third-most home wins in school history. For Brown, playing in her 117^th career contest, it was her final home game in a Cajuns uniform.

The Ragin' Cajuns, guaranteed a spot in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament, conclude the regular season schedule on Saturday, March 7 at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro, Ark., at 3:05 p.m., against Arkansas State (20-9, 15-4 Sun Belt).

The loss dropped the Cajuns back into a fifth-place tie with UT Arlington at 10-9 in SBC play. Texas State's loss to Appalachian State keeps UL one game behind the Bobcats for the SBC Tournament No. 4 seed.

The Trojans shot above 60 percent the entire contest resulting in the sizeable advantage midway through the second half. UALR ended the evening shooting 62.2 percent (23-of-37).

UL heated up in the second half, both offensively and defensively. The Cajuns shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second stanza and forced eight turnovers while holding UALR to 12 points in the game's final 9:30.

A pair of field goal droughts made the difference for the Cajuns.

In the opening half, Louisiana went without a field goal make from 15:11 through 5:22 and the Trojans, who once trailed 9-7, were leading 26-11.

The Cajuns closed the first half on a 12-5 scoring run to lower the deficit into single digits, 31-23.

For the first eight-plus minutes of the second half the Cajuns were limited to one field goal. After free throws by Veal trimmed the UALR lead to 31-25 at 19:10, the Trojans used a 19-3 spurt to open the 22-point lead.

Starting at 7:23, layups by Gordon that were 10 seconds apart sliced the UALR lead to 58-46. Two minutes later a layup by Veal at 4:57 moved UL within single digits at 60-52.

A triple by Dawn at 2:23 had the Trojans up 63-54, but the Cajuns kept on fighting back.

After two free throws from Gordon lowered the deficit to 65-58, Wilridge collected a steal and found Brown for a three-point make with 21 seconds remaining that moved the Cajuns within two possessions (65-61).

Wilridge came up with a steal again on the ensuing possession which led to Quinn's basket that had the Cajuns one score away from a potential tie.

#GeauxCajuns

Next Event

Team Stats

Wilridge Kia

Gordon Jaylyn

Veal Keke

Brown Robbie

Players Mentioned

Robbie Brown

Jaylyn Gordon

Jodi Quinn

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge