LAFAYETTE (Press Release) – Louisiana Women’s Basketball (2-11, 0-2 SBC) returns home to open up the CAJUNDOME for Sun Belt Conference play, Thursday, Jan. 10, when the Georgia State Panthers (7-6, 1-1 SBC) visit Lafayette with tip scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN/FOLLOW: Thursday night’s game will be televised on ESPN+ with Dan McDonald (play-by-play) and Lawana Stokes (analyst) handling the calling duties. Steve Peloquin will handle the radio call, with the game being broadcast on ESPN 1420AM. Live stats will be provided by the Louisiana Athletic Department and they can be found by clicking here.
LOUISIANA SALUTES: Louisiana Women’s Basketball will be honoring all Military Veterans, active duty and local first responders with its Annual Louisiana Salutes Night. Veterans, active duty members and local first responders can get a free ticket to the game by presenting a proper I.D. at the ticket office in front of the CAJUNDOME and all Veterans, active duty members and local first responders are welcome to take the court during the pre-game ceremonies to be honored and recognized for everything they have done.
PREVIEWING THE GAME: Louisiana opens its home portion of conference play when the Georgia schools come to Lafayette, starting with Georgia State. Louisiana comes in with an eight-game winning streak against Georgia State, holding an 8-2 All-Time record against the Panthers, with the last loss coming in 2014.
This is the first time that Georgia State has come to the CAJUNDOME since Jan. 12, 2017, a game Louisiana won 72-65. Louisiana won the previous meeting between the two programs, which took place in Atlanta, Ga., on Feb. 8, 2018, 75-60.
REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS GAME: Louisiana finished its first road weekend of conference play dropping the game at Little Rock, 62-48 on Jan. 5 to open conference play 0-2. During the game Louisiana started slow, but worked its way back, cutting into Little Rock’s lead, kicking off the second half with a 6-0 run and get within single digits of Little Rock.
But a strong finish from the Trojans allowed them to pull away and finish off the Ragin’ Cajuns.
In the game sophomore guard Skyler Goodwin led Louisiana in scoring, finishing with 12 points. While freshman guard Andrea Cournoyer once again scored in double-figures, finishing with 11 points.
Sophomore center Ty’Reona Doucet led the team with nine rebounds and she added seven points to the mix. While redshirt freshman Kristen Daniels finished with five rebounds in just 18 minutes of action.
RACKING UP THE PANTHER WINS: Georgia State joined the Sun Belt in 2013, and since then Louisiana has only lost one conference game to the Panthers. Holding a 8-1 conference record against Georgia State, having only lost the first conference matchup between the schools in 2014.
BEGINNING CONFERENCE IN FAMILIAR PLACES: Louisiana headed to Jonesboro, Ark., to begin its Sun Belt Conference portion of the schedule with the Arkansas swing. The trip was the fifth straight season that Louisiana’s road conference schedule began at either Arkansas State or Little Rock and it was the third straight season that Louisiana has opened its conference season on the road.
AC AND BRANDI LIGHT IT UP: Freshman guard Brandi Williams and Cournoyer each scored career highs at Arkansas State with Williams scoring 25 and Cournoyer adding 21 of her own. It was the first time that Louisiana had two freshmen score at least 20 points in a game since Kia Wilridge and Keke Veal each scored 20 points against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 16, 2013.
WILLIAMS HAS IMPRESSED: Williams has been impressive through Louisiana’s first 13 games, scoring 10.8 points per game, the second most on the team, while shooting .373 percent from the field. The 10.8 ppg., rank Williams second on the team in scoring and when looking at the Sun Belt Conference, Williams is the leading scorer among freshmen.
AVERAGING A DOUCET SPECIAL: Doucet has been extremely consistent over the first two months of the season. She is currently averaging a double-double, scoring 13.7 points per game and grabbing 10.5 rebounds per game. Doucet’s numbers, eighth in scoring and second in rebounding, means that she is the only player in the Sun Belt that averaged a double-double over the non-conference portion of the season.
LOUISIANA FRESHMEN HAVE BEEN KEY: Louisiana’s four freshmen have played key parts on the court over the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 13 games played so far. Louisiana’s freshmen have averaged 28.7 points per game total, which is just under half of the 61.4 points per game that Louisiana is averaging as a team and the four freshmen are shooting .360 percent playing a key part the team shooting percentage of .378.
WHAT THE PANTHERS BRING: Georgia State split its Sun Belt Conference opening weekend, beating UT Arlington in the opener on a buzzer beater, 50-48 on Jan. 3 and falling to Texas State in its last game on Jan. 5, 69-60. Entering the game against Louisiana the Panthers have won three out of the last five games, with all of the wins coming at home.
Georgia State has two players averaging in double-figures with Jada Lewis leading the team in scoring 16.4 points per game and Walnatia Wright averaging 10.6 points per game.
Georgia State is sixth in scoring defense and seventh in field goal percentage defense in the conference. Shooting-wise, the Panthers are eighth in field goal percentage and eighth in scoring margin in the conference.
Lewis is scoring her 16.5 ppg., which is fifth in the conference, by hitting .333 percent from beyond the arc. She is 25-for-75 from three-point range, which is first on the team and 15th in the conference.
Wright is leading the team in rebounds per game, with 8.9 rebounds per game, which ranks her fourth in the conference. Shaq Miller-McCray, in a bench role, has been a force on the block leading the team in blocks with 24, averaging 1.8 blocks per game, which ranks her second in the conference.
