LAFAYETTE, La. ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team saw its three-game Sun Belt Conference win streak come to an end Wednesday night as Louisiana-Lafayette defeated the Jags 69-61 at Earl K. Long Gym.
The loss drops the Jaguar women to 9-9 on the season and 3-5 in Sun Belt Conference play, while ULL improves to 15-5 and 7-2 in the league. USA will conclude its two game road swing Saturday when the Jags take on Denver at 3 p.m. (Central).
The Lady Jags came out and jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead, knocking down their first four shots of the game with just under two minutes played in the game. The host Cajuns during that same time had trouble hitting their opportunities from the floor, missing their first seven attempts. ULL’s Sonora Edwards finally put the Cajuns on the scoreboard with a bucket at the 16:14 mark. The Edwards basket also ignited a 7-0 run over the next two minutes. After ULL had trimmed the margin to two, Monique Jones drained back-to-back three pointers put the Jags back up by five at 14-9 with 12 minutes, 31 seconds to go in the half.
ULL later tied the contest up at 16-16 on a Kina Miller basket at the 10 minute mark and Jeanenne Colbert knocked down her second trey of the half on Louisiana-Lafayette’s next trip down the floor to give the Cajuns their first lead of the night. Two straight baskets from Alicia McDaniel, including a three-pointer from the right corner at the 7:12 mark gave ULL its biggest lead of the first period at 24-17 and capped off a 13-1 by the host Cajuns. Valencia Boswell cut the Jaguar deficit to two (24-22) with a lay up less than a minute later. The Jags and the Cajuns traded baskets over the next minute-and-a-half until ULL’s Jones found a cutting Courtney Ratliff for a basket to stretch the lead out to 32-26 with a little more than four minutes left before halftime. USA’s Jones nailed her third trey of the night a minute later to cut the margin to three, but Louisiana-Lafayette went on to head into the locker room with a 36-29 lead.
In the second half, after Jones hit a three pointer for Louisiana-Lafayette at the 17:22 mark to give the Cajuns a 41-33 lead, Whitney Woodard drained a trey of her own and Boswell laid the ball off the glass again to trim the deficit to 41-38. USA regained the lead with 11 minutes, 15 seconds left to play in the second stanza when Raena Ellis drained a trey of her own, but ULL’s Whitney Dunlap came right back down the floor and banked in a shot from behind the arc to give the Cajuns the lead back and ignite an 8-0 run over the next three minutes. After a Cortney Brown bucket ended the ULL run with a lay up at the 8:17 mark, the Lady Jags continued to claw back and Jones cut the Cajun advantage to 58-55 when she connected on her fifth three-pointer of the night with just over five minutes remaining. Two-and-a-half minutes later, Woodard brought the Lady Jags to within one at 61-60, after banking in a shot from behind the arc as the shot clock expired. South Alabama, however, could not retake the lead on its next trip down the floor and Colbert hit a driving reverse lay up with under a minute to play to give ULL a four-point advantage. The Cajuns, as they had done all night made the Jags pay at the charity stripe, hitting their free throws down the stretch en route to the 69-61 victory.
The Lady Jags were led offensively on the night by Jones, Woodard and Boswell. Jones had a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, while Woodard and Boswell were close behind with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Louisiana-Lafayette placed three players in double figures, led by Jones’ 23 and 11 rebounds. Colbert and Ratliff chipped in with 18 and 11 points as well.
The key stats of the night were in rebounding and at the free throw line. ULL out-rebounded USA 39-27 and was a blistering 20-of-24 from the charity stripe. The Jaguar women were able to get to the free throw line just seven times and only converted on three of them.
