LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Women’s Basketball team used a dominant start and a dominant finish to produce a 62-46 win over Louisiana Christian on Saturday, December 3 at the Cajundome, wrapping up a week-long homestand and entering final exams break on a winning note.
Louisiana (5-4) extended its winning streak to four games and moved its record back above the .500 mark for the first time since the season-opening win over Houston back on November 7.
The Ragin’ Cajuns wasted little time establishing control, as Sherry Porter drained a triple on the game’s first possession and then the defense pressured LCU into back-to-back layups that resulted in fastbreak layups for a 7-0 advantage by the 8:50 mark.
The offense-defense combo moved the lead into double figures after Alicia Blanton converted a layup at 6:04 and Porter followed with a quick steal and a scoop at 5:49 to push the lead to 12-1.
The Wildcats got back into the game with 10 unanswered points, but the Ragin’ Cajuns protected the lead by getting a block and a steal from Porter inside of a minute in the first quarter before she made two free throws with 18 seconds left before the quarter break to preserve the lead at 14-11.
Louisiana got a 10-0 run of its own to wrap up the first half, using its patented defense to generate eight of the points off of turnovers forced, growing the lead to 41-26 at the break.
The lead reached its largest point of the contest inside of eight minutes in the third quarter as Blanton and Tamera Johnson scored for a 46-26 edge by the 7:11 mark. LCU responded with a 12-0 run which was halted by Johnson at 0:45 after she rushed in for an offensive putback to make it 48-38.
Sparked by a pair of three-pointers from Lafayette native Olivia Scott the Wildcats drew within four points, 50-46, with 5:19 remaining. That’s when the Ragin’ Cajuns dialed up the defensive pressure, forcing five turnovers and holding LCU scoreless the rest of the way.
Louisiana scored the game’s final 12 points starting when Destiny Rice put on the moves and spun her way to a driving layup at 3:56. From there, the Ragin’ Cajuns sealed the victory with an 8-for-8 showing at the free throw line.
The Ragin’ Cajuns shot 39 percent (22-of-56) marking the fourth straight game above 35 percent. With a 15-8 advantage in steals the team enjoyed an extensive margin in points off of turnovers at 31-8.
In the first half alone, Louisiana shot 47 percent (16-of-34) and with 18 turnovers forced, 11 coming off of steals, produced half of its point total off of turnovers (20 out of 41 points).
Saturday’s game marked the first meeting between the two in-state programs since the 1996-97 season and was also the first-ever matchup inside the Cajundome.
LEADING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS
Johnson shot 7-of-13 from the floor and spread out her game-high 17 points over both halves, scoring nine in the opening stanza and eight in the second half. The LCA product hauled in a team-leading nine rebounds which included five offensive boards.
With a 4-of-5 showing from the floor, including 2-of-3 from three-point range, Porter paced the Ragin’ Cajuns first half efforts with 12 points. She wound up with 14 points for her second double-figure scoring effort in the past three games and was tied for the lead with three steals.
Rice spearheaded the game-sealing free throw performance late in the fourth quarter going 4-of-4 to complete her perfect showing at the charity stripe over six total attempts. She totaled 10 points for the game and added four rebounds, an assists and three steals to her stat line.
Blanton worked another 20-plus minutes, on the heels of a season-high 22 minutes on Tuesday vs. LSU-Shreveport, netting six points in 21 minutes of action. Her all-around effort included a pair of rebounds, assists and steals.
UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
After completing final exams, the Ragin' Cajuns return to the road for their final two non-conference trips of the season.
Louisiana will make stops in Auburn, Alabama to face Auburn on Sunday, December 11 and Beaumont, Texas to meet Lamar on Saturday, December 17. Tipoff for both games is set for 2:00 p.m.
The next home game inside the Cajundome is scheduled for Monday, December 19 vs. LSU-Alexandria at 6:00 p.m.
------------------------------------------------------------
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers