Cajuns Open February Road Stretch in Hattiesburg

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team takes in the first of four straight road games to start the month of February, visiting Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Thursday, February 1 for a Sun Belt Conference matchup with Southern Miss.

The Ragin' Cajuns-Golden Eagles contest is set to tip at 6:00 p.m. with television coverage on ESPN+ and radio coverage on The GOAT 103.3 FM and 1420 AM in the Acadiana region and The Varsity Network worldwide.

Louisiana (8-10, 4-5 SBC) seeks to extend its two-game win streak the squad recorded after a weekend sweep of Coastal Carolina and Texas State that brought the recent January homestand to a close.

Southern Miss (10-9, 3-6 SBC) has won three of its last five games since ending a seven-game losing streak which included an 0-4 start to SBC play.

Thursday's game marks the start of the second half of play within the Sun Belt Conference. It's also the first of two meetings between the Cajuns and Golden Eagles who will meet again in the regular season finale on March 1 at the Cajundome.

Louisiana is attempting to set its longest win streak of the season – the current two-game run the longest since the Nov. 18 home win over Nicholls and Dec. 2 win at UNO – and post its first series win over USM in 40 years (last win came in January 1984 at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette).

Last week's Coastal-TXST sweep, the breakthrough after near-misses with ULM and Troy despite being shorthanded, was sparked by the return of the vintage Cajuns defense of the Garry Brodhead era. UL forced an average of 22 turnovers per game and limited the Chants and Bobcats to a combined 51.5 points per game.

Leading scorers in the UL-USM matchup include Tamera Johnson (11.7) and Brandi Williams (11.0) for the Cajuns and Domonique Davis (21.1) and Melyia Grayson (13.2) for the Golden Eagles.

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

GAME INFORMATION
LOUISIANA (8-10, 4-5 SBC) at SOUTHERN MISS (10-9, 3-6 SBC)
Date / Time: Thursday, February 1, 2024 / 6:00 p.m.
Site: Hattiesburg, Miss.
Arena: Reed Green Coliseum (8,097)

RADIO/TV
Radio: The GOAT 103.3 FM/1420 AM
Talent: Dawson Eiserloh (PxP)
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Lee Roberts (pxp), Larry Boyd (analyst)

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

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Southern Miss leads, 15-3
In Lafayette: USM leads, 5-2
In Hattiesburg, Miss.: USM leads, 9-1
At Neutral Sites: USM leads, 1-0
Streak: USM, +10
Last Meeting: USM, 69-64 (OT) (2/24/23 at Lafayette, La.)

Series Notables
- Meeting for the 19th time overall, but just third matchup as conference foes.
- Met as conference foes for the first time in the 2022-23 season – USM's first as a member of the Sun Belt.
- Last season, Louisiana provided the opposition for USM's inaugural SBC game at Reed Green Coliseum.
- Thursday's game marks only the fifth matchup since the turn of the century; three of previous four games in the 2000s occurred in Hattiesburg.
- Lady Eagles carry a series-best, 10-game win streak; UL's last series win came in January 1984 in Lafayette.
- Bulk of the meetings took place from 1983-99, the two programs meeting 10 times during that span.

THE COACHES
LOUISIANA
Head Coach: Garry Brodhead (Louisiana, 1980)
Record at Louisiana: 193-161 (12th season), Career Record: Same

SOUTHERN MISS
Head Coach: Joye Lee-McNelis (Southern Miss, 1984)
Record at Southern Miss: 319-282 (20th season), Career Record: 548-438 (33rd season)

STORY LINES
• The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team begins a four-game road trip on Thursday, February 1 facing off with Southern Miss at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
• The four-game stretch to start the month of February also includes visits to SBC opponents ULM (Feb. 3) and Marshall (Feb. 7) and a trip to Central Michigan (Feb. 10) to round out the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.
• UL begins February on a two-game win streak – the team's first consecutive victories since the Nov. 18 home win over Nicholls and Dec. 2 win at UNO.
• Last week's sweep of Coastal Carolina and Texas State gave Louisiana an even 2-2 split of its January homestand and marked the first 2-0 week in SBC play this season.
• The defense returned to form last week, forcing 22 turnovers per game and yielding just 51.5 ppg.
• UL is armed with the SBC's January breakout performer: Jaylyn James who averaged 14.5 in the month.

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 seven of the nine 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 returning to play following the previous week's illness, Jaylyn James scored game-highs of 16 points vs. Coastal and 18 points vs. Texas St. – her fourth and fifth double-digit scoring efforts 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 18.7 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 57 percent of her field goal makes from three-point range (35 of 61 total FGM) and is shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc.
• Tamera Johnson and Brandi Williams are fueling the Cajuns' efforts, averaging a combined 22.7 points.
• Brandi Williams made her 163rd triple last Saturday, moving her past Sylvana Okde (162, 2012-16) and into fifth place in school history. She is 13 points shy of passing Anna Petrakova (1,252, 2001-05) for 10th.
• 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 seven (7) wins away from recording his 200th win at Louisiana.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana continues its four-game road trip by traveling to Monroe, Louisiana for a Saturday, February 3 matchup against the Warhawks at 2:00 p.m. from Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

The meeting with ULM concludes the opening half of the Cajuns' early February road swing. It's also a rematch, the two teams having met on January 18 at the Cajundome with the Warhawks claiming a 65-59 decision.

The following week, Louisiana is headed north to West Virginia for an SBC contest at Marshall (Feb. 7) and to Michigan for a MAC-Sun Belt Challenge game at Central Michigan (Feb. 10).

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.

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Cajuns Open February Road Stretch in Hattiesburg

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Players Mentioned

Jaylyn James

Tamera Johnson

Lanay Wheaton

Brandi Williams

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