PENSACOLA, Fla. – Louisiana scored the first 11 points of the game on Saturday on the way to a wire-to-wire 65-46 women's basketball win over the University of South Alabama in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center.

Jomyra Mathis scored 17 points to lead all players while Brandi Williams had 14 for the Ragin' Cajuns (15-5), who entered the event as the league's regular-season champion.  Ty'Reona Doucet contributed nine points and 11 rebounds with Skyler Goodwin adding 10 boards for UL.

Mahogany Vaught paced the Jaguars (13-13) with 14 points while adding seven rebounds and three steals.  Antoinette Lewis was credited with a double-double after posting 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Janelle Jones chipped in with 11 points coming off of South's bench.

Louisiana 65, South Alabama 46 (box score)

GAME FACTS
-The Ragin' Cajuns' game-opening run covered five minutes and 40 seconds as they led 17-9 at the end of the first period.
-UL held the Jags to 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) shooting in the second quarter to extend its lead to 33-18 at the half.
-The advantage was still 14 at the close of the third quarter for the Cajuns as they entered the final 10 minutes up 46-32.
-Mathis scored nine points in the final quarter as UL maintained a double-digit advantage, with a late 7-0 spurt in the final four-plus minutes putting the game away.
-The Ragin' Cajuns outrebounded the Jaguars by a 50-32 margin.
-Louisiana shot 50 percent from beyond the arc while limiting South to 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) shooting from long distance.

NOTES
-This marks the fourth season in a row that the Jaguars finish with a record of .500 or better, the program's longest stretch accomplishing the feat since South posted a mark at or above .500 in eight straight years from 1982-83 through '89-90.
-This was the fifth consecutive year that South advanced past the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
-It was the first time in five tries that the Cajuns defeated the Jags at the event.
-South still holds a 40-18 edge in the all-time series with Louisiana.
-Lewis concluded her Jaguar career with 80 games recording 10-plus points and 40 double-doubles.
-It was the first occasion Vaught has led USA in scoring since a Jan. 29 victory over Georgia State, while her 15 outings posting a double-figure point total this season were most on the team.
-The junior also fell one rebound shy of equaling her career-best total after recording more than five for the first time since a Feb. 19 match-up with Appalachian State.
-It marked the first occasion in her career that Jones has finished with a double-digit scoring total in consecutive games.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "First, I want to tip my hat to Louisiana, they've done a great job all season.  We just got off to a slow start, we were getting the shots we wanted but we didn't make them.  When you're down to seven ballplayers it's important to get off to a fast start, which is something we did in yesterday's game and were able to feed off of that energy.  Today it felt like nothing was going right, we couldn't get a shot to fall and they were hitting shots from all over the place.  We would make a run, but we were too deep in the hole to make a true comeback.  I am so proud of our kids and the fight they showed, we knew it was going to be difficult coming here trying to win four games with seven players.  In order to win four you have to win two and we weren't able to do that today."
On if playing in the first round affected the team's performance on Saturday: "Absolutely, there is no doubt.  If we had a bye I think we would've been able to do some different things today, but that didn't happen.  To fight and earn our way to get to this round today was an accomplishment."
On fighting despite trailing the entire second half: "When we had all of our players this group was as competitive as I have been around, no matter the situation they were going to play to the end.  As we lost players these seven individuals just got tighter, they really enjoyed being around each other and played for each other.  That's something we want to build on as we move forward into next season."
On Louisiana's defense: "They have been really good all season, they did a great job.  With their length and their size, they have similar players and were able to switch everything so they really slowed us down.  They didn't let us get the ball in the paint like we wanted to, whether that was via the dribble or trying to throw it in to Antoinette.  They do a great job of closing out and contesting shots and making it difficult.  But I also think we didn't have our legs to shoot threes and we depend on those."
On what Antoinette Lewis has meant to the program: "Everything.  Everyone knows her as a basketball player, but she is just an awesome person.  She came here without a whole lot of fanfare and wasn't highly recruited, and had a heck of a career here at South Alabama.  We are going to miss her."

Up next: This marked the end of the 2020-21 campaign for the Jaguars.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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