Press Release
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Women’s Basketball (6-15, 4-6 SBC), playing in its third game of the week, fell 76-58 to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (11-9, 3-6 SBC), Saturday afternoon at the CAJUNDOME.
Junior forward Kendall Bess finished with career highs in points, 11, and rebounds, seven, leading Louisiana on the boards. While freshmen guards Diamond Morrison and Andrea Cournoyer each scored in double figures, with Morrison dropping a team-high 12 points and Cournoyer adding 11, giving Louisiana three scorers in double figures for the fourth straight game.
HOW IT HAPPENED (First Half): The game started with both teams trading three-point baskets, and over the first four minutes Coastal built a slight lead, with Louisiana keeping the Chanticleers within arm’s reach. But a 7-2 run by Coastal started at the five-minute mark, pushed Coastal’s first quarter lead to seven points.
Louisiana responded with a 6-0 run of its own to finish the quarter, led by back-to-back baskets by Bess, pulling within one point of Coastal as the quarter came to an end with the score sitting at 15-14.
The Ragin’ Cajuns came out in the second quarter, and over the first three and a half minutes, they built their first lead of the game, powered by a quick 5-0 run by Louisiana started by Morrison’s jumper made at the 7:05 mark and when the clock hit 6:12 Louisiana held its first and last lead of the game when Cournoyer hit a three-point basket to put Louisiana up 21-19. Coastal responded by going 5-for-6 from the field over the final five minutes, and the hot shooting from the Chanticleers meant that they took a 31-23 lead into the break.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Second Half): Coastal came out to start the second half, and began to pull away from Louisiana right away, hitting a 10-0 run out of the locker toom to quickly go ahead by 18 points, 41-23. Sophomore guard Jomyra Mathis ended the run with a jumper at the 6:15 mark, and Cournoyer hit a basket shortly after at the 5:46 mark, but Louisiana could not truly close the gap under 10 points for the remainder of the quarter and Coastal took a 18 point lead, 57-39, into the final period.
Over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Coastal pushed its lead to over 20 points, and any attempts by Louisiana to cut into that lead were met with Coastal hitting yet another basket time and time again to keep its lead to over 20 points. Down the stretch, Louisiana kept playing hard, and the Ragin’ Cajuns did get the Coastal advantage to under 20 points, but when the final buzzer rang Coastal had come away with a 76-58 victory.
GAME NOTES: Bess had career highs in points (11) and rebounds (seven); Morrison’s 10+ points were the sixth time that she has scored at least 10 points in a game this season; Cournoyer, finishing with 10 points, brought her count of games scoring at least 10+ points in the season to 10 games.
UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana heads back on the road next weekend when the Ragin’ Cajuns begin the Georgia swing, starting with Georgia Southern on Thursday, Feb. 7 in Statesboro, Ga. Before wrapping up the weekend against Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 9 in Atlanta, Ga.
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.