LAFAYETTE – Powered by a season-high 27 first quarter points, Louisiana’s offense took complete control of Saturday afternoon’s Sun Belt clash with Georgia Southern to snap a four-game losing streak with a 72-60 victory.
Five different Ragin’ Cajuns (14-10, 7-6 SBC) scored in double figures to help prime the offense, the first time Louisiana has accomplished that feat since Nov. 30, 2018, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. That quintet led the team to a 46.7 percent (28-for-60) shooting percentage, its third-best shooting performance this season.
Junior Jomyra Mathis was unstoppable, scoring a career-high 18 points to lead all scorers. Skyler Goodwin had the most complete game, recording her first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Brandi Williams (14), Kimberly Burton (11) and Ty’Reona Doucet also contributed at least 10 points in the win and combined for 16 rebounds.
The Ragin’ Cajuns also enjoyed complete control of the glass, outrebounding the Eagles, 37-29. It was the first time that they have outrebounded an opponent since Jan. 23 against Arkansas State.
Louisiana opened the game quick with an 8-0 run before a quick Georgia Southern run trimmed the early advantage down to 12-8. That was as close as the Eagles would get for the remainder of the night after the Ragin’ Cajuns closed the final 4:42 of the opening period on a 15-6 run to take a 27-14 lead.
Senior Kendall Bess opened the second period with two of her four points with a field goal in the paint to put the home team up 29-14 15 seconds into the period. With 1:28 to play, Hailey Dias-Allen buried two free throws, pulling the Eagles within 36-28 at the break.
After trading buckets in the opening portion of the second half, Mathis put Louisiana ahead 46-31 with a jumper in the paint. From there, team’s lead did not dip below double digits until the 6:07 mark of the final quarter when Nikki McDonald hit a jumper in the paint to trim their deficit to 58-52.
Louisiana was able to hold off the late advance by outscoring Georgia Southern, 14-8, over final six minutes to preserve the 72-60 victory.
The Ragin’ Cajuns will open a three-game road swing on Saturday, Feb. 22, when they travel to Monroe to face off with in-state rival ULM. Tipoff is slated for Noon.
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