Women’s Basketball: Cajuns rule paint to sweep ULM

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, February 2, 2016

 

UL basketball hosts Tuesday SBC doubleheader as the Lady Cajuns take on ULM in the Cajundome.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE, THE ADVERTISER)

 

 

The whole goal was to keep ULM post standout Alayshia Hunter from having another dominant performance in the lane.

Simone Fields took that objective to heart and so did plenty of her teammates in an impressive 52-40 win over the Warhawks on Tuesday in the Cajundome.

The win made it two straight for UL to improve to 16-4 overall and 9-2 in Sun Belt play. It was the first home win in the series in five tries.

“She (Hunter) had been averaging a double-double,” UL coach Garry Brodhead said.

In the first meeting, Hunter scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

Slowing her down began with Fields. It started with simple defense.

“I was focused on not letting her go left,” Fields said.

Then it shifted to Fields on the offensive end. The sophomore post performer scored a season-high points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, as well as 3-of-4 shooting from the free throw line.

“I was just trying to be more consistent on offense, and just play hard,” Fields said.

In addition to Hunter, ULM played a smaller lineup, which dictated some things for the Cajuns offensively. In other words, it was get the ball down low to Fields and Brooklyn Arceneaux.

“We did a good job of recognizing some mismatches and getting the ball to Simone and Brooklyn,” Brodhead said. “They played small and Simone did a nice job of taking advantage of that. That was big for her.”

The next step was on the boards.

Fields had 10 rebounds, while helping to limit Hunter to just 10 points and three rebounds. Arceneaux contributed seven points and eight rebounds. As a team, the Cajuns outrebounded ULM 43-23.

“Before every game, we set rebound goals,” Arceneaux said. “We wanted to beat them by 15, so to see that we outrebounded them by 20 is something we take pride in.”

Some of it was effort and some was about the approach.

“A lot of times, we stand behind the defenders,” Brodhead said. “We’re athletic enough to get offensive rebounds and get second chances. A lot of times, that decides games.”

On this night, the Cajuns won the war in the paint 38-10 and had 11 second-chance points compared to zero for ULM.

Unfortunately, says Brodhead, the Cajuns got away from pounding it inside later in the first half.

“We shot 10 3-pointers in the first half and we didn’t need that,” he said. “We wanted free throws and layups.”

As it was, ULM was 10-of-12 shooting at the line in the first half, while the Cajuns made just half of their six tries at the line in the first half. By the game’s end, ULM was 13-of-16 and UL 7-of-12.

“We quit fouling in the second half,” Brodhead said.

Despite that lull, the Cajuns never trailed in the game. It was consistent play that provided that constant cushion. After Fields with 19, no other Cajun managed double figures.

Kia Wilridge collected eight points, seven rebounds and two assists. Keke Veal only shot six times and had seven points and six rebounds, while Taylor Washington added seven points off the bench.

“We improved our shooting percentage every quarter,” said Brodhead, whose club finished 45.8 percent from the field after finishing at 63.6 in the fourth quarter.

It was the kind of work-ethic victory that earned Brodhead’s Cajuns a good night’s sleep … for their 4 a.m. wakeup call to begin the trip to meet Appalachian State on Thursday.