University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Friday, November 8
Lafayette
6:00 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
1-1,0-0Sun Belt
74
vs
50
Loyola (La.)
0-1
1
2
3
4
F
Loyola (LA)
11
6
18
15
50
Louisiana
15
18
20
21
74
Cajuns Home Debut Highlighted by Career-High Effort
11/8/2024 10:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Erica Lafayette drives the triumph with her 24-point output
LAFAYETTE – Charged by a career-high 24 points from Erica Lafayette, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team registered a 74-50 win over Loyola (La.) in its regular season home debut on Friday, November 8 at the Cajundome.
Lafayette, who finished 5-of-9 from three-point range, twice got the hot hand which allowed Louisiana (1-1) to turn away advances from the Wolf Pack.
She dialed up a triple twice in the final three minutes of the opening half as part of a 10-0 Ragin' Cajuns run that stretched the lead to 33-14.
In the third quarter after Loyola trimmed the lead to 37-24 in the five-minute mark, it was Lafayette draining a trio of three-pointers over another three-minute span. The first came at 5:05 making it 40-24 and the latter two at 2:55 and 2:00 helping expand the lead to 48-28.
UL scored 30 points off the Wolf Pack's 25 turnovers with 13 of those points coming off the hands of Lafayette. The last time she capitalized off a Loyola miscue it was a fastbreak jumper with 4:33 remaining that created the Cajuns largest lead at 69-39.
Louisiana never trailed in the contest, baskets from Lanay Wheaton and Tamiah Robinson in the first two minutes opening a 4-0 advantage. The Wolf Pack drew an 11-all tie with 0:25 left in the first quarter, but the Cajuns used a pair of Ashlyn Jones free throws at 0:11 and a Robinson layup off a steal of the ensuing inbounds pass for a quick four-point spurt and a 15-11 lead.
Back-to-back inside baskets from Jones and Uniyah Franklin moved the Cajuns' lead into double digits at 23-11 with 6:53 left in the second quarter. After two scoreless minutes a triple from Deniya Thornton allowed Loyola to move within single digits, then Lafayette began to take over.
Friday's contest kicked off a four-game homestand for the Ragin' Cajuns who evened their record and rebounded from the heartbreaking season-opening loss at NIU on Monday.
Lafayette was joined in double figures by Lanay Wheaton with 14 points and Robinson who scored 10. Jones led in rebounds with nine including five on the offensive end and was one of three Cajuns with three steals.
UL shot 48 percent (30-of-62) as a team and was a solid 8-of-15 (53 percent) from three-point range largely due to Lafayette's sharpshooting. The Cajuns out-rebounded the Wolf Pack 31-27 and yielded only five offensive rebounds.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana has a 10-day break before resuming the current four-game homestand at the Cajundome on Tuesday, November 19 with a 5:00 p.m. matchup against Mobile.
The contest will mark the first meeting all-time between the Ragin' Cajuns and Rams. It's the first half of a doubleheader that'll be followed by the Louisiana men's squad vs. Rice.
Admission to all UL Women's Basketball games throughout the entire season is free and open to the public.
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.
Lafayette, who finished 5-of-9 from three-point range, twice got the hot hand which allowed Louisiana (1-1) to turn away advances from the Wolf Pack.
She dialed up a triple twice in the final three minutes of the opening half as part of a 10-0 Ragin' Cajuns run that stretched the lead to 33-14.
In the third quarter after Loyola trimmed the lead to 37-24 in the five-minute mark, it was Lafayette draining a trio of three-pointers over another three-minute span. The first came at 5:05 making it 40-24 and the latter two at 2:55 and 2:00 helping expand the lead to 48-28.
UL scored 30 points off the Wolf Pack's 25 turnovers with 13 of those points coming off the hands of Lafayette. The last time she capitalized off a Loyola miscue it was a fastbreak jumper with 4:33 remaining that created the Cajuns largest lead at 69-39.
Louisiana never trailed in the contest, baskets from Lanay Wheaton and Tamiah Robinson in the first two minutes opening a 4-0 advantage. The Wolf Pack drew an 11-all tie with 0:25 left in the first quarter, but the Cajuns used a pair of Ashlyn Jones free throws at 0:11 and a Robinson layup off a steal of the ensuing inbounds pass for a quick four-point spurt and a 15-11 lead.
Back-to-back inside baskets from Jones and Uniyah Franklin moved the Cajuns' lead into double digits at 23-11 with 6:53 left in the second quarter. After two scoreless minutes a triple from Deniya Thornton allowed Loyola to move within single digits, then Lafayette began to take over.
Friday's contest kicked off a four-game homestand for the Ragin' Cajuns who evened their record and rebounded from the heartbreaking season-opening loss at NIU on Monday.
Lafayette was joined in double figures by Lanay Wheaton with 14 points and Robinson who scored 10. Jones led in rebounds with nine including five on the offensive end and was one of three Cajuns with three steals.
UL shot 48 percent (30-of-62) as a team and was a solid 8-of-15 (53 percent) from three-point range largely due to Lafayette's sharpshooting. The Cajuns out-rebounded the Wolf Pack 31-27 and yielded only five offensive rebounds.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana has a 10-day break before resuming the current four-game homestand at the Cajundome on Tuesday, November 19 with a 5:00 p.m. matchup against Mobile.
The contest will mark the first meeting all-time between the Ragin' Cajuns and Rams. It's the first half of a doubleheader that'll be followed by the Louisiana men's squad vs. Rice.
Admission to all UL Women's Basketball games throughout the entire season is free and open to the public.
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 -
Team Stats
Loyola
LA
FG%
.381
.484
3FG%
.316
.533
FT%
.750
.750
RB
27
31
TO
25
14
STL
10
14
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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