University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Arkansas State
@RaginCajunsWBB Wraps Up Regular Season With Home Matchup Against Arkansas State
3/8/2019 2:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Women's Basketball (7-21, 5-12 SBC) will play its final home and regular season game on Saturday, March 9, when the Arkansas State Red Wolves 11-17, 6-11 SBC) make the visit to the CAJUNDOME, on what will be the annual Reunion Game, with tip scheduled for 2 p.m.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN/FOLLOW: Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Dan McDonald and Lawana Stokes calling the game and a link to the broadcast can be found by clicking here. Steve Peloquin will handle the radio call, with the game being broadcast on TalkRadio 960AM. Live stats will be provided by the Louisiana Athletic Department and a link to the live stats can be found by clicking here.
PREVIEWING THE GAME: This will be the second matchup between Arkansas State this season in what is the 70th all-time meeting between the two programs. That makes Arkansas State the second-most common opponent in program history and all-time Arkansas State leads 51-18.
The Red Wolves took the previous meeting between the two sides, winning 87-75, on Jan. 3 in Jonesboro, Ark. In terms of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championships seedings, Louisiana sits 10th and Arkansas State sits ninth with the outcome of Saturday's game having no effect on those seedings due to Arkansas State holding the tiebreaker against Little Rock.
REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS GAME: Louisiana dropped its previous game to Little Rock, 62-49, on Thursday, March 7. The Ragin' Cajuns were done-in by a 15-2 run that Little Rock went on during the first four minutes of the final quarter, allowing the Trojans to pull away for the win.
In the first quarter, freshman guard Brandi Williams hit a layup, which sent her past the late great Kim Perrot for the most points scored by a freshman in a single season in program history. Williams had entered the game tied with Williams at 354, and the early basket gave her 356 points and the record.
Freshman guard Andrea Cournoyer led Louisiana in scoring with 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field, and she was the lone scorer to finish in double figures for Louisiana. Defensively Louisiana did hold Little Rock to 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc, which was the second time this conference season, the first being against Appalachian State on Jan. 31, that Louisiana has accomplished that.
WILLIAMS PASSES A LEGEND: Williams, entered Thursday's game with 354 points scored on the season, which put her tied with the late great Kim Perrot, for the most points scored by a freshman in program history. Williams hit a layup at the 7:20 mark of the first quarter to pass Perrot, finishing with nine points and now Williams currently sits at 363 points on the season. Perrot eventually went on to score a school-record 2,157 points in her career.
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— Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns® Women's Basketball (@RaginCajunsWBB) March 8, 2019
OWNING THE CHARITY STRIPE: Williams has been a force at the charity stripe during her freshman season, shooting a Sun Belt Conference best 88 percent from the line (119-of-135) and she is on pace to break the current school record of 82 percent set by Anna Petrakova during the 2003-04 season when she went 127-of-155 from the line. Williams also sits 18th nationally in free throw percentage, and inside the Top-20 Williams had attempted the third-most free throws in the country.
COURNOYER BUZZES DEFENSES: Cournoyer has been a thorn in the side of opposing defenses, snagging a team-high 52 steals, for an average of 1.9 spg. placing her sixth in the conference.
MATHIS DISHES IT OUT: Over the past 10 games, sophomore guard Jomyra Mathis has been moving the ball well, averaging 2.3 assists per game during that stretch. She recorded a conference season-high with five assists in Louisiana's game at Georgia Southern.
WILLIAMS HAS IMPRESSED: Williams has been impressive through 28 games, she is averaging 13.0 points per game, tying her for the team lead, while shooting .440 percent from the field. The 13.0 ppg., makes Williams is the leading scorer among freshmen in the Sun Belt Conference.
HIGH FLYING FRESHMEN: Williams and Cournoyer have been scoring machines over 17 conference games, with Williams and Cournoyer both averaging high figures in Sun Belt play. Williams is averaging 14.7 ppg., and AC is averaging 10.0 points per game making Williams one and Cournoyer third in the conference for freshmen in terms of scoring.
LOUISIANA FRESHMEN HAVE BEEN KEY: Louisiana's four freshmen have played key parts on the court over the Ragin' Cajuns' 27 games played so far. Louisiana's freshmen have averaged 30.3 points per game total, which is just over half of the 61.6 points per game that Louisiana is averaging as a team and the four freshmen are shooting .378 percent playing a key part the team shooting percentage of .392.
WHAT THE RED WOLVES BRING: Arkansas State enters the game against Louisiana having gone 2-2 over the past four games, including taking a 65-53 loss at ULM on Thursday, March 7, in Monroe, La. The Red Wolves' win against Louisiana in the previous meeting sparked a three-game conference opening winning streak for Arkansas State, but after that stretch the Red Wolves went on a six-game skid from Jan. 12 – Feb. 2.
Arkansas State sits middle of the pack, sixth, in scoring offense in the conference but near the bottom in scoring defense entering Saturday's game sitting at 11th in the Sun Belt. The Red Wolves once again rank in the middle of the conference in field goal percentage, coming in at sixth, and on the defensive end they sit 10th in field goal percentage defense.
Peyton Martin is leading the way in scoring for Arkansas State, scoring 14.4 points per game, while Akasha Westbrook sits second in the team in scoring, averaging 10.4 points per game to give the Red Wolves two scorers in double figures.
Martin's 14.4 ppg., ranks her seventh in the conference in scoring, while her .458 field goal percentage places her 12th in the Sun Belt. Westbrook, who is averaging 30.0 minutes per game, leads Arkansas State in minutes and ranks 17th in the conference in mpg.
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE: Both season tickets and individual game tickets for Louisiana Women's Basketball are available for purchase by either heading to ragincajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at the CAJUNDOME, (337) 265-2357, or by visiting the office in person.
FOLLOWING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS:Â Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@RaginCajunsWBB) to stay up-to-date with Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball.
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