Women’s Basketball: Okde Leads Louisiana In Overtime Thriller At Tulane, 65-64 12/19/12

NEW ORLEANS – Freshman Sylvana Okde scored a game-high 23 points including seven three-pointers and a game tying three-pointer to force overtime and Brandi Schambough’s trey in the final seconds of overtime boosted the Ragin’ Cajuns over Tulane, 65-64, Wednesday afternoon at Devlin Fieldhouse.

The Ragin’ Cajuns wrapped up the non-conference portion of their schedule going 6-3 against non-conference foes and improved to 5-1 vs. in-state opponents under first-year head coach Garry Brodhead.

Freshman Okde and sophomore Robbie Brown paced a Louisiana lineup that shot 36.1 percent from the floor.

Okde and Brown tallied 23 and 13 points, respectively to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns as freshman Keke Veal chipped in nine. Kia Wilridge dished out a game-high nine assists to highlight the Louisiana attack. Wilridge and Jasmin Mills pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

Moments after the Cajuns used a 6-0 run to tie the contest at 10-10 at the 11:54 mark of the first half, four straight free throws by Chinwe Duru and a three-pointer by Danielle Blagg fueled a spurt that lasted more than seven minutes and gave the Green Wave a 28-13 advantage with 4:41 remaining in the first half.

Trailing 33-22 at the half, the Cajuns came storming out of the gates as Sylvana Okde knocked down back-to-back three pointers and a layup, giving the Cajuns the momentum and trimming the Green Wave lead to three, 33-30.

The Cajuns held Tulane scoreless for the opening four and a half minutes of the second half, going on a 10-0 run and getting to within one point. A jumper by Robbie Brown at the 13:04 mark gave the Cajuns their first lead of the game, 38-37.

Okde’s three-pointer tied the contest at 47-47 with 5:31 remaining. A jumper by Olivia Grayson gave Tulane a five-point cushion with 1:36 left but a pair of free throws by Jasmin Mills got the Cajuns to within three with one minute remaining.

A big time three-pointer by Okde as time expired locked the game at 52-52 as the Cajuns forced overtime.

Grayson and Brandi Schambough traded a pair of free throws to open the extra period of play, as the game remained tied with 3:02 remaining. With the game locked at 56-56, the Green Wave rattled off five unanswered points to take a 61-56 advantage. However another huge three-pointer by Okde trimmed the lead and got the Cajuns to within two points with 1:55 remaining.

A jumper by Whitney Bibbins with 39 seconds left gave the Green Wave a four-point cushion but another trey by Okde cut the deficit to just one point. A three-pointer by Schambough with five seconds remaining on the clock boosted the Ragin’ Cajuns over the Green Wave, 65-64.

The Ragin’ Cajuns return to Sun Belt Conference action traveling to Jonesboro, Ark. on Saturday, Dec. 22 to face Arkansas State at 1:05 p.m. at the Convocation Center on the ASU campus.

— Ragin’ Cajuns —

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Traci Bode
Assistant Sports Information Director
University of Louisiana

Cox Communications Athletics Center
201 Reinhardt Drive
Lafayette, LA 70506

Office: (337) 482-6329