Louisiana Finishes January Homestand on Saturday

LAFAYETTE – A four-game homestand for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team concludes on Saturday, January 27 when the squad takes on Texas State in a 2:00 p.m. contest at the Cajundome.

The UL Athletics Department is designating Saturday's game, sponsored by Our Lady of Lourdes, as Louisiana Salutes, honoring active and former military members. Fans are encouraged to wear black attire.

Halftime entertainment for the Cajuns-Bobcats matchup is being presented by the All-Star Stunt Dogs.

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

A live video stream of the UL-TXST contest is available on ESPN+ while radio coverage can be accessed in the Acadiana region on The GOAT 103.3 FM and 1420 AM and worldwide on the Varsity Network.

Louisiana (7-10, 3-5 SBC) enters play on Saturday coming off a convincing 67-51 win over Coastal Carolina on Thursday that gave the team its first win on the January homestand. The Cajuns shot 40-plus percent for the sixth time in eight SBC games and had its top defensive performance in conference play limiting Coastal to 16 field goal makes on 34 percent shooting.

Thursday's win was a breakthrough for a Cajuns squad that even though shorthanded due to illness and injury battled in a six-point loss to ULM and eight-point loss to Troy the previous week. With the exception of Destiny Rice remaining out with a knee injury, Louisiana returned to full strength as the second half of the homestand got underway.

Texas State (11-9, 2-6 SBC) was able to break a five-game losing streak on Thursday in Mobile, Alabama by claiming a 63-44 win over South Alabama.

Saturday's game marks the halfway point in the Sun Belt Conference schedule.

Leading scorers in the matchup include Tamera Johnson (11.7) and Brandi Williams (11.3) for the Cajuns and Ja'Niah Henson (15.3) and Jaylin Foster (9.6) for the Bobcats.

The Cajuns are armed with one of the SBC's up-and-coming performers in Jaylyn James who has produced double digits in points four times in January after entering the month averaging 2.1 points per game off the bench.

GAME INFORMATION
LOUISIANA (7-10, 3-5 SBC) vs. TEXAS STATE (11-9, 2-6 SBC)
Date / Time: Saturday, January 27, 2024 / 2:00 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), Eric Mouton (analyst)

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

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Louisiana leads, 16-13
In Lafayette: Tied, 6-6
In San Marcos, Texas: Louisiana leads, 7-5
At Neutral Sites: Louisiana leads, 3-2
Streak: Texas State, +1
Last Meeting: Texas State, 58-51 (2/22/23 at Lafayette, La.)

Series Notables
- Meeting for the 30th time overall and 11th consecutive season meeting as Sun Belt foes.
- 20th SBC regular season matchup (UL holds a 11-8 edge in SBC play).
- Saturday's winner takes the series lead in Lafayette.
- Dating back to the 2019-20 season, the Ragin' Cajuns have won seven of the last 10 regular season bouts.
- Visiting team won both meetings in 2022-23 season; prior to that, the home team had won four straight.
- UL's win on New Year's Day 2022 at the Cajundome was its series-best fourth straight triumph, a streak snapped by Texas State's overtime win in San Marcos on Feb. 10, 2022.

THE COACHES
LOUISIANA
Head Coach: Garry Brodhead (Louisiana, 1980)
Record at Louisiana: 192-161 (12th season), Career Record: Same

TEXAS STATE
Head Coach: Zenarae Antoine (Colorado State, 1998)
Record at Texas State: 198-186 (13th season), Career Record: Same

STORY LINES
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team closes out its January-ending, four-game homestand on Saturday, January 27 when it faces Texas State at the Cajundome.
• The current homestand began on January 18 vs. ULM, beginning a stretch where the Ragin' Cajuns were set to spend the remainder of the month of January at home in the Cajundome.
• Louisiana is coming off its first win of the homestand, a convincing 67-51 win over Coastal Carolina on Thursday, January 25 in which the team led by double figures the entire second half.
• The CCU win was UL's breakthrough after a six-point loss to ULM and an eight-point decision to Troy the week prior – both games where the squad was in position to win in the fourth quarter.
• Saturday's game marks the halfway point of the Sun Belt Conference schedule.
• UL seeks back-to-back wins for the first time since the Nov. 18 home win over Nicholls and Dec.2 win at UNO.

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 six of the eight 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 vs. Texas State.
• In her return to play following last week's illness, Jaylyn James scored a game-high 16 points vs. Coastal Carolina – her fourth double-digit scoring effort in January alone.
• The one-point win at ASU was UL's fourth win (out of six at the time) by six points or fewer.
• The 16-point margin of victory over Coastal Carolina (Jan. 25) was the largest against a Division I team this season.
• In SBC play, Louisiana is receiving an average of 19.8 points per game from its bench.
• Tamera Johnson scored double digits the first seven games, leading her to a team-best 11.7 points average.
• Brandi Williams has converted 58 percent of her field goal makes from three-point range (34 of 59 total FGM) and is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc.
• Tamera Johnson and Brandi Williams are fueling the Cajuns' efforts, averaging a combined 23.0 points.
• Brandi Williams needs only one more 3-pointer to move past Sylvana Okde (162, 2012-16) for fifth place in school history. She is 20 points shy of passing Anna Petrakova (1,252, 2001-05) for 10th 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.
• Head coach Garry Brodhead, the lone coach in program history to reach 100 wins, is presently eight (8) wins away from recording his 200th win at Louisiana.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana heads out on the road for the next four games, with the travels beginning on February 1 at Southern Miss. That'll be followed by visits to SBC opponents ULM (Feb. 3) and Marshall (Feb. 7).

The Cajuns close out the four-game road swing on February 10 when they travel to Mount Pleasant, Michigan for the first-ever battle with Central Michigan, which completes the SBC-MAC Challenge for the 2023-24 season.

The next home outings at the Cajundome are scheduled for February 15 vs. Georgia Southern and February 17 vs. Arkansas State.

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.

- www.RaginCajuns.com -

Louisiana Finishes January Homestand on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Jaylyn James

Tamera Johnson

Destiny Rice

Lanay Wheaton

Brandi Williams

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