LAFAYETTE – Louisiana could not have asked for a better response to its heartbreaking defeat on Thursday night, capitalizing on a hot-shooting offense and lockdown defense to take down Arkansas State, 68-57, on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Ty’Reona Doucet once again made a big impact, recording her sixth-straight double-double and her eighth of the season with a game-high 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The Ville Platte native’s point total saw her move into fifth place in career scoring with 1,359 points, passing Teena Cooper.
Tamera Johnson (12), Makayia Hallmon (11) and Lanay Wheaton (10) joined Doucet in double figures while combining for 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Those four Ragin’ Cajuns helped the team shoot 53 percent (29-for-55) from the floor, its best shooting percentage in league play this season, and the team’s third-best performance this year.
As good as Louisiana’s (13-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) offense was on Saturday, the defense was equally as impressive after holding Arkansas State to just 57 points, the Red Wolves’ fewest points scored this year, and a 30.5 shooting percentage, A-State’s second-worst this season.
Point guard Destiny Rice scored the first two points of the game, but Arkansas State (10-12, 3-6 Sun Belt) immediately took over and put together an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to go up 11-4. The Red Wolves held onto that lead until the final seconds of the period when Diamond Morrison beat the buzzer with a corner 3-pointer to go up 18-16.
Morrison’s bucket was the start of a 9-1 run that extended through the first four minutes of the second quarter after Johnson made a layup off a turnover to put her team ahead 24-17 with 6:33 left in the half. That lead held firm for the Cajuns, who went into the breakup 30-25.
Louisiana’s offense continued to impress in the third quarter, going up 51-36 with 2:33 to play when Ashlyn Jones dropped in a floater. The lead stayed in double figures for the remainder of the game and grew to as many as 16 points (59-43) before the Ragin’ Cajuns saw the game out for a comfortable 68-57 win.
The Ragin’ Cajuns will hit the road for three-straight games beginning on Thursday, Feb. 10, when they head to San Marcos to face off with Texas State. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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