Box Score
Box Score - Louisiana-Lafayette 68, South Alabama 61 (Overtime) (.pdf)
LAFAYETTE, La. – Ronneka Robertson posted a career night with 28 points and 17 rebounds, but Louisiana-Lafayette outshot the South Alabama women's basketball team at the foul line in overtime to pick up a 68-61 Sun Belt Conference victory Sunday night at the Cajundome.
In the extra session, ULL was nearly perfect as it connected on nine of its 10 attempts at the charity stripe, while the Jags were just 5-of-10 at the line. Wilridge recorded seven of her season-high 17 points in overtime and was 5-of-6 at the foul line in the frame.
Hall hit one of two at the charity stripe to tie the contest back up at 59-59 with just under two minutes remaining. Following that possession though, ULL would live at the foul line as Wilridge and Alexander combined for all nine of the Ragin' Cajuns' free throws in overtime to take the lead and pull away. Jennifer Johnson's basket with 34 second remaining in the game trimmed the deficit to 63-61, but those would be the last points for the Jags. While struggling at the line in extra period of play, Johnson's bucket was also the lone field goal for the Jaguars as ULL went on to take the seven-point win.
USA (7-19, 5-11 SBC) will now return home for its final two games of the regular season, beginning with Texas State on Wednesday night. Tip-off versus the Bobcats is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.
"It was a great effort by our kids tonight, but we just came up short," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "We missed some free throws and then some shots right around the basket, but the effort was there. It's very disappointing to lose this game. We had a great opportunity to get a Sun Belt road win and to put ourselves in position to control our own destiny in trying to get the final spot in the conference tournament."
The path for the Jags to earn a berth in this year's conference tournament is simple. South Alabama will have to win its final two games of the regular season, while Louisiana-Monroe will need to drop its final two on the road at Arkansas State and at Arkansas-Little Rock. The loss for USA was the club's seventh straight and eighth in its last nine outings.
Robertson led all scorers with her 28-point effort. She was 11-for-17 from the field and also had six free throws. The 11 made field goals were the most by a Jaguar in a game since Brianna Wright's 10 versus Western Kentucky last season on Jan. 23, 2013. Of Robertson's 17 rebounds, six were on the offensive glass, while 11 came at the defensive end. The double-double was second of the season for Robertson and the fourh of her career.
"You could tell all day that (Ronneka) was really locked in with it being her final regular-season game in Louisiana," Fowler said. "She came out and really played well. That was where we had an advantage on the inside. She made the most of her opportunities tonight."
Also finishing in double digits for South Alabama were Breanna Hall with 13 and Rachel Cumbo with 10. The double-figure outing for Hall was her 10th in her last 12 games and all 13 of her points came in the second half and overtime.
With the win, Louisiana-Lafayette improves to 14-13 overall and 7-9 in the Sun Belt and are now in a three-way tie with Louisiana-Monroe and Troy for sixth place.
Along with Wilridge, Brooklyn Arceneaux and Gabby Alexander also ended the night in double figures, finishing with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Alexander, who grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, was 4-of-6 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the foul line, while Arceneaux pulled down seven rebounds and was 6-for-9 in the win.
In addition to the late foul shooting, one other key stat for ULL in the victory was in the turnover department where they were able to get 20 points of 28 Jag turnovers. Conversely, USA was only able to force seven turnvovers.
Led by Arceneaux, Louisiana-Lafayette got off to a quick start as the Ragin' Cajuns opened the game on a 7-0 run. Arceneaux recorded six of ULL's first nine points in the game.
Louisiana-Lafayette led 11-4 after a put back from Alexander and hit five of its first nine shots heading into the second media time out, but over the remainder of the period, the Jaguar defense would tighten up and hold the Cajuns to just two made field goals over the final 12-plus minutes of the half. ULL was just 7-of-28 from the floor during the first 20 minutes of action.
Coming out of the under 12 media, Meghan Dunn ignited a South Alabama run as the senior connected from the right wing. Robertson then added two-straight buckets and Taylor Jenkins was able to get her jumper from the foul line to bounce in and put the Jaguars up 13-11 with just under nine minutes to go before the intermission.
Alexander tied the contest back up at 15-15 with another put back at the 4:14 mark, but USA led by Robertson again rattled off a string of points to retake the lead. Alexander's bucket was the first for ULL in nearly eight minutes.
Robertson began the 7-0 run for South Alabama with two more baskets. The senior forward from Kentwood, La, led all scorers during the first 20 minutes of play as she was 5-of-6 from the floor for 12 points. Rachel Cumbo then drained a trey with one minute, 18 seconds showing on the clock to give USA a 22-15 advantage.
Wilridge scored with less than a minute remaining to send the two clubs into the locker room with USA holding a 22-17 lead.
South Alabama shot 42.9 percent from the field in the first half and out rebounded ULL 19-16. USA also scored 14 of its 22 first-half points in the paint led by the play of Robertson.
The Jags got off to a good start in the second half, connecting on three-pointers by Hall and Cumbo on their first two possessions of the period to extend the South Alabama lead out to nine (28-19) a minute-and-a-half into the period.
With USA still leading by that same margin four minutes later, ULL quickly rallied back and cut the South Alabama lead to 36-35 on the strength of an 8-0 run over a three minute stretch. Adrienne Prejean began the scoring with a pair of baskets. Louisiana-Lafayette then turned to its defense to cap off the scoring as Wilridge and Arceneaux capitalized of a pair of steals.
South Alabama pushed the lead back out to five on a Cumbo basket with just over nine minutes to go, but ULL again answered back and tied the contest back up at 40-40 after a three-pointer by Braile Fields and a pair of Wilredge free throws.
Robertson nearly helped the Jags pull out the win in regulation as she scored eight-straight points during a three-minute stretch and put USA up 53-49 with a bucket in the paint with a minute remaining, but on the ensuing ULL possession, Jaylyn Gordon drained a trey of her own to cut the deficit to one. After a free throw from Hall with 20.2 seconds remaining, Arceneaux was fouled and went to the line and tied the contest back up at 54-54 with less than 10 seconds to go.
USA did have one chance to win it at the end of the second half as Hall drove down the court and had a floater in the closing seconds, but the shot came up shot and the two clubs eventually headed to overtime.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
NOTES: South Alabama now leads the series versus Louisiana-Lafayette 34-12 and is 12-8 in the series in games played in Lafayette. ULL has now won two straight in the series. The game versus the Ragin' Cajuns was South Alabama's third televised game of the season. USA is now 1-2 this season in those games and 9-17 all-time in either nationally or regionally televised games. The 28 points and 17 rebounds were both new career best for senior forward Ronneka Robertson. Robertson's previous career highs had been 18 points at Southern Miss and 16 rebounds versus Tennessee Tech. The 11 made field goals were also the most by a Jag in a game since Brianna Wright's 10 versus Western Kentucky last season on Jan. 23, 2013. With her 13 points versus Louisiana-Lafayette, Breanna Hall has now recorded double figures in 10 of her last 12 games. Meghan Dunn had her string of 10-straight games in double digits snapped as she had just four points.
—USA—
