Women’s Basketball: Thomas Scores Career High As Cajuns Defeat Georgia State, 72-65

THOMAS SCORES CAREER HIGH AS CAJUNS DEFEAT GEORGIA STATE, 72-65

LAFAYETTE – Jasmine Thomas scored a career high 21 points and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team defeated Georgia State 72-65 on Thursday at the Cajundome.

Simone Fields added 16 points and eight rebounds to help give the Cajuns their third straight win.

Louisiana (9-4, 3-1 SBC) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead when Troi Swain knocked down a jumper with 6:14 left in the first quarter.

Georgia State (5-10, 1-3 SBC) took its first lead of the game when Jada Lewis connected on a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 9-7 lead with 3:16 remaining in the opening period.

The Cajuns led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead to 26-16 when Jaylyn Gordon hit a three-pointer with 5:34 left in the second frame.

The Panthers closed the gap to 32-27 when Lewis connected on a trey with 45 seconds to go in the second period.

Swain then scored a three-pointer for Louisiana and the Cajuns took a 35-28 lead into halftime.

Louisiana led 48-35 after Brittney Myles made a layup while being fouled and made the free throw with 4:15 left in the third quarter. The Cajuns held a 55-46 lead at the end of the third period.

Thomas made two free throws to give Louisiana a 67-56 lead with 2:36 remaining in the game.

The Panthers never got closer than seven points in the final minutes and Thomas knocked down two more free throws with 49 seconds left to help the Cajuns secure the win.

Lewis led Georgia State with 19 points while Makeba Ponder had 15 points for the Panthers.

Louisiana will return to action when it hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 5 p.m. The Ca-juns will then hit the road for a game at UT Arlington on Thursday, Jan. 19 and will play at Texas State on Saturday, Jan. 21.

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