Louisiana Continues Homestand Against Coastal Carolina

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team continues its four-game homestand on Thursday when it hosts Coastal Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference contest at the Cajundome.

Tipoff for the game, which is sponsored by Cajun Country Rice, is scheduled for 5 p.m. and is the first part of a doubleheader with the Ragin' Cajuns men's team, which will host Arkansas State at 7:30 p.m.

Admission to the game – and all UL Women's Basketball games throughout the entire season – is free and open to the public.

Student organizations are encouraged to show up and show out at the Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball game on Thursday. The largest organization in attendance will receive a check from head coach Garry Brodhead.

The Cajuns-Chanticleers matchup will be streamed live on ESPN+ and can be heard in the Acadiana region on The GOAT 103.3 FM and 1420 AM and worldwide on the Varsity Network.

Louisiana (6-10, 2-5 SBC) and Coastal Carolina (7-13, 1-6 SBC) are meeting for the eighth time in school history with the Chanticleers holding a 5-2 advantage. CCU claimed a 68-57 victory – the fourth straight win in the series – in last season's matchup at the Cajundome.

UL continues its January-ending, four-game homestand which opened on January 18 against ULM. A short-handed Cajuns squad, with six players unavailable due to illness, nearly erased a double-digit deficit and were within one point of taking the lead several moments in the fourth quarter.

Against Troy – a team that handed Louisiana a 90-44 setback on January 10 – the Ragin' Cajuns were down eight players due to illness or injury and nearly pulled the upset in an eventual 65-57 loss. Louisiana built a seven-point lead at halftime before Troy fought back to take a 50-49 lead after three quarters.

Tamera Johnson, who has scored double digits in 10 of her 14 appearances, averages a team-leading 12.1 points per game. The Lafayette native averages near five field goal makes on 45 percent shooting (64-of-142) from the floor.

Brandi Williams follows closely with 11.4 points per game and sports a team-best 33 3-pointers on the season. Williams, who started for the 97^th time in her 101-game career, scored 16 points to lead Louisiana in its last game against Troy and increased her career scoring total to 1,224 points – 29 points shy of passing Anna Petrokova for 10^th place in school history.

The duo of Tamiah Robinson (32) and Destiny Rice (28) has 60 assists between them. Johnson tops the charts with 85 rebounds (25 offense, 60 defense) and is supported by a group of nine others with 20-plus boards.

Coastal Carolina (7-13, 1-6 SBC) wraps up a four-game road trip this week after dropping contests last week at Marshall and App State. Since an 88-71 win over Southern Miss on January 3, CCU has dropped its last five games with a pair of setbacks to Marshall, plus games against Troy, Old Dominion and App State.

The Chants are averaging 67.8 points per game while shooting 40 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range. Defensively, the Chanticleers have allowed 74.9 points per game.

Coastal is paced by Deaja Richardson and Arin Freeman who average 15.0 and 12.7 points per game, respectively. Makaila Cange (12.5) is averaging 12 points per contest. Cange and Alancia Ramsey have averaged 8.2 and 7.3 rebounds per game.

GAME INFORMATION
LOUISIANA (6-10, 2-5 SBC) vs. COASTAL CAROLINA (7-13, 1-6 SBC)
Date / Time: Thursday, January 25, 2024 / 5:00 p.m.
Site: Lafayette, La.
Arena: Cajundome (12,362)

RADIO/TV
Radio: The GOAT 103.3 FM/1420 AM
Talent: Dawson Eiserloh (PxP)
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Dan McDonald (pxp), Byron Starks (analyst)

LIVE STATS/SOCIAL MEDIA
Live Stats: CajunStats.com
Twitter Updates: @RaginCajunsWBB | #GeauxCajuns

SERIES HISTORY
Series Record: Coastal Carolina leads, 5-2
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 2-1
In Conway: Coastal Carolina leads, 3-1
At Neutral Sites: Never met
Streak: Coastal +4
Last Meeting: Coastal Carolina, 68-57 (12/31/22 at Lafayette)

SERIES NOTABLES
• Meeting for the eighth time (fourth time overall in Lafayette).
• Six of the seven meetings have been since Coastal Carolina officially joined the Sun Belt Conference in the 2016-17 season.
• The Chanticleers have won five of six meetings against the Ragin' Cajuns in SBC games.
• The series began in 2003 with Louisiana earning a 62-56 win on December 20, 2003 in the Beach Ball Classic in nearby Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Louisiana's last win in the series was a 59-55 decision on January 6, 2018 at the Cajundome.
• Coastal Carolina holds a 2-1 lead in the series in games played at the Cajundome.

THE COACHES
LOUISIANA
Head Coach: Garry Brodhead (Louisiana, 1980)
Record at Louisiana: 191-161 (12th season), Career Record: Same

COASTAL CAROLINA
Head Coach: Kevin Pederson (Clemson, 1999)
Record at Coastal: 21-29 (2^nd season), Career Record: 465-220 (23^rd season)

STORY LINES
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team continues its four-game homestand on Thursday as it plays host to Coastal Carolina in a Sun Belt Conference game.
• The current homestand began on January 18 vs. ULM, beginning a stretch where the Ragin' Cajuns are set to spend the remainder of the month of January at home in the Cajundome.
• Louisiana has dropped both games on its current homestand with a six-point loss to ULM and an eight-point decision to Troy.
• The Ragin' Cajuns are in search of their first home conference win of the season.
• Louisiana has held opponents to 65 points or less in its last three games.
• Despite being shorthanded with six players out due to illness, UL nearly erased a double-digit deficit on Thursday vs. ULM, pulling within one point several times in the fourth quarter.
• The Ragin' Cajuns missed eight players due to illness or injury in last Saturday's game against Troy and trailed 50-49 after three quarters.

QUICK HITS
• Louisiana shot its Sun Belt-play best of 48 percent (23-of-48) in a 64-63 win at Arkansas State on January 13, and has shot 40-plus percent in four of the six conference games played so far.
• The career-high 25 points scored by Jaylyn James at Arkansas State marked the highest output by a Cajun this season and the most since Lanay Wheaton scored 26 points on January 1, 2022 at Texas State.
• In SBC play, Louisiana is receiving an average of 20.4 points per game from its bench.
• The one-point win at ASU was UL's fourth win (out of six) by six points or fewer.
• Tamera Johnson scored double digits the first seven games, leading her to a team-best 12.1 points average.
• Brandi Williams has converted 59 percent of her field goal makes from three-point range (33 of 56 total FGM).
• Tamera Johnson and Brandi Williams are fueling the Cajuns' efforts, averaging a combined 23.5 points.
• Williams has been a constant on the floor for the Ragin' Cajuns during the last three games, playing the full 40 minutes.
• Williams played a season-high 42 minutes at James Madison and has reached the 40-minute barrier five times in 2023-24 and eight times in her career.
• Williams needs a pair of 3-pointers to move past Sylvana Okde (161, 2012-16) for fifth-place in school history and is 29 points shy of passing Anna Petrakova (1,252, 2001-05) for 10^th in school history.
• Louisiana, a member since 1991-92, is in its 33rd season of competition within the Sun Belt Conference.
• UL produced a 101-94 record in Sun Belt play over the first 11 seasons of the Garry Brodhead era.
• Louisiana, three games away from a title last season, was picked sixth (6th) in the Sun Belt coaches poll.
• UL has received an added boost on offense with the return of 1,000-point career scorer, and three-point threat, Brandi Williams (missed all but four games the past two seasons with injury).
• Third-year starter Destiny Rice tallied 50-plus assists and 200-plus points the previous two seasons.
• Head coach Garry Brodhead, the lone coach in program history to reach 100 wins, is presently nine (9) wins away from recording his 200th win at Louisiana.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana closes out its four-game homestand on Saturday when it faces Texas State in a 2 p.m. contest at the Cajundome. The UL Athletics Department is designating Saturday's game as Louisiana Salutes.

The Ragin' Cajuns will then head back out on the road for their next four games beginning on February 1 at Southern Miss before facing SBC opponents ULM (Feb. 3) and Marshall (Feb. 7).

Louisiana will close out the road swing on February 10 when it travels to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for its first-ever battle with Central Michigan to complete the SBC-MAC Challenge for the 2023-24 season.

FOLLOW THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter (@RaginCajunsWBB), Facebook (/RaginCajunsWBB) or Instagram (@RaginCajunsWBB) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Women's Basketball.

Fans are also encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.

Louisiana Continues Homestand Against Coastal Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Jaylyn James

Tamera Johnson

Destiny Rice

Tamiah Robinson

Lanay Wheaton

Brandi Williams

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