LAFAYETTE – After a three-game road trip, that included the Georgia swing and a trip up north to Monroe, La., Louisiana Women’s Basketball (7-17, 5-8 SBC) finally returns home for a 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, afternoon matchup with the Texas State Bobcats (12-14, 7-7 SBC) in the Annual Pink Game at the CAJUNDOME.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN/FOLLOW: Saturday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dan McDonald and Lawana Stokes calling the game and a link to the broadcast can be found on the Louisiana Women’s Basketball scheduled page. Steve Peloquin will handle the radio call, with the game being broadcast on TalkRadio 960AM. Live stats will be provided by the Louisiana Athletic department.
2019 CANCER WALK: The 2019 Cancer Walk presented by the Andrea Brodhead Foundation will be held before Saturday’s game against Texas State. Survivors can take part in the walk free of cost. While for non-survivors the cost for the walk is $10, which includes a t-shirt that doubles as free attendance to the game against Texas State.
8:30 a.m. – Registration Begins (CAJUNDOME)
9 a.m. – Head to pre-game shootaround
10 a.m. – Opening remakes by Coach Brodhead
10:30 a.m. – Walk Begins (CAJUNDOME)
12 p.m. – Walk Ends (CAJUNDOME)
1 p.m. – Meet and greet with the team
2 p.m. – Louisiana vs. Texas State (Survivors honored pregame)
4 p.m. – Closing Remarks (Following game)
(To pre-register or for more information contact the Andrea Brodhead Foundation at abrodheadfoundation@gmail.com / (337) 800-0074)
PREVIEWING THE GAME: For the first time since Texas State joined the Sun Belt Conference, in 2013, the two programs will meet for the first and only time during the regular season with Saturday’s matchup at the CAJUNDOME. It will be the first time in five seasons that Louisiana will not make a regular season trip to San Marcos, Texas with the only regular season meeting between the two progams being Saturday’s game in Lafayette, La.
Texas State enters the game having won the previous two matchups, taking the last game in Lafayette, 56-53, on Feb. 15, 2018 and the last meeting period between the two sides, 62-56, in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championships on Mar. 10, 2018 in New Orleans, La. All-time Texas State leads the series 9-8 and the Bobcats are 4-2 in Lafayette all-time.
REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS GAME: Louisiana won its 10th straight game against ULM with a hard-fought conference road win at ULM, 55-52, on Feb. 16. The win also snapped a 10-game road losing streak that stretched back to November, after Louisiana won its first road game of the season at McNeese State on No. 11, 2018.
The Ragin’ Cajuns locked up the win with tough defense down the stretch, and it was the first time that Louisiana had come back to win when entering the fourth quarter trailing this season. During the fourth quarter Louisiana went on a 9-2 run during the heart of the period to put some space between them and ULM.
In what was the deciding play, freshman guard Brandi Williams came up big, drawing a big foul on a illegal screen thrown at the top of the key to get Louisiana the ball back with just under five seconds to go. Williams then iced the game at the free throw line to give Louisiana the win.
Williams led Louisiana in scoring with 15 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field while sophomore center Ty’Reona Doucet came off the bench to scoring 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field in only 22 minutes of action.
Freshman guard Andrea Cournoyer scored only six points, but she was key in other places leading the team with five assists and she grabbed four steals in the game.
WILLIAMS CLOSES ON A LEGEND: Williams, who currently sits at 314 points scored on the season, is closing in on the late great Kim Perrot for the most points scored by a freshman in program history. Perrot, who eventually went on to score a school-record 2,157 points, scored 354 points as a freshman which are the most points scored by a Louisiana freshman.
COURNOYER BUZZES DEFENSES: Cournoyer has been a thorn in the side of opposing defenses, snagging a team-high 43 steals, for an average of 1.8 spg. placing her eighth in the conference and she is the leading freshmen for steals per game.
WILLIAMS HAS IMPRESSED: Williams has been impressive through 24 games, she is averaging 13.1 points per game, the second most on the team, while shooting .439 percent from the field. The 13.1 ppg., rank Williams second on the team in scoring and when looking at the SBC, Williams is the leading scorer among freshmen.
10 DOUCET SPECIALS: Doucet has recorded a Sun Belt Conference leading 10 double-doubles so far this season and she recorded number 10 when she scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds during Louisiana’s game at Georgia Southern. The 10 double doubles for Doucet ranks her 37th in the NCAA in double doubles recorded.
HAVE A WEEKEND WILLIAMS: Williams put together a solid weekend at the office, averaging 24.5 points per game during Louisiana’s swing in Georgia. She started the weekend tying a career-high with 25 points at Georgia Southern and she followed that up with a 24-point performance at Georgia State.
MATHIS DISHES IT OUT: Over the past six games, sophomore guard Jomyra Mathis has been moving the ball well, averaging 2.2 assists per game during that stretch. She recorded a conference season-high with five assists in Louisiana’s game at Georgia Southern.
ROAD WARRIORS: During the month of February Louisiana will earn its frequent flyer miles, playing four out of its six games on the road. Louisiana will first make the Georgia swing, (Feb. 7-9), followed by a quick trip to Monroe, La. (Feb. 16), a one-game homestand against Texas State (Feb. 23) before wrapping up the month on the east coast with the Carolina swing (Feb. 28-Mar. 2).
HIGH FLYING FRESHMEN: Williams and Cournoyer have been scoring machines over 13 conference games, with Williams and Cournoyer both averaging double figures in Sun Belt play. Williams is averaging 15.5 ppg., and AC is averaging 9.8 points per game making Williams one and Cournoyer third in the conference for freshmen in terms of scoring.
LOUISIANA FRESHMEN HAVE BEEN KEY: Louisiana’s four freshmen have played key parts on the court over the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 24 games played so far. Louisiana’s freshmen have averaged 29.8 points per game total, which is just under half of the 61.6 points per game that Louisiana is averaging as a team and the four freshmen are shooting .376 percent playing a key part the team shooting percentage of .387.
WHAT THE BOBCATS BRING: Texas State brings a three-game winning streak into the matchup at the CAJUNDOME. As the Bobcats took down Arkansas State (68-54), Little Rock (50-48) and ULM (62-51) in their previous three games, with Arkansas State and Little Rock being played in San Marcos.
Texas State sits near the bottom (ninth) in scoring offense, but the Bobcats do sit in the top half of the conference in scoring defense, coming in at fourth. The Bobcats also sit fourth in the conference in free throw percentage and their defense shows with the fourth best defensive field goal percentage.
Toshua Leavitt, who is averaging 16.2 points per game, sits third in the conference in scoring and she is averaging 3.3 three-point field goals made (87 total) which is the best in the conference. Leavitt is also averaging 35.4 minutes per game, which is second in the conference.
Brooke Holle is the other member on the Bobcats who is averaging double digits in scoring, averaging 11.0 points per game which is 20th-best in the conference. She is also the leading rebounder, averaging 6.5 boards per game which puts her 11th in the conference.
TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE: Both season tickets and individual game tickets for Louisiana Women’s Basketball are available for purchase by either heading to ragincajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at the CAJUNDOME, (337) 265-2357, or by visiting the office in person.
FOLLOWING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS: Follow the Ragin’ Cajuns on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@RaginCajunsWBB) to stay up-to-date with Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Women’s Basketball.
