Women’s Basketball: Louisiana Drops Sun Belt Opener at Texas State, 71-63

Brandi Williams scores season-high 20 points in Friday afternoon defeat

LAFAYETTE – Junior Brandi Williams scored a season-high 20 points to lead all Louisiana scorers in the team’s Sun Belt Conference opener at Texas State, but the hot-shooting Bobcats emerged victorious by a final score of 71-63 on New Year’s Day.
 
Williams’ performance marked the eighth time in her career that she has scored more than 20 points in a game and made her the first Ragin’ Cajun this season to eclipse the 20-point mark.
 
Forward Kimberly Burton, who produced the first seven points of the contest for Louisiana (1-5, 0-1 Sun Belt), finished with a season-high 15 points and seven rebounds, marking her first double-digit scoring performance since notching 15 points against the Bobcats on March 7, 2020.
 
Despite shooting 41 percent (24-for-59) from the floor and outrebounding the Bobcats 34-31, the Ragin’ Cajuns turned the ball over 16 times which Texas State turned into 22 points.
 
Burton’s first made 3-pointer of the season at the 7:24 of the first quarter gave Louisiana its largest lead of the game at 5-0 before Texas State stormed back with a 15-5 run over the next 5:24 to flip the script and go ahead 15-10.
 
The home team maintained its advantage throughout the second period and took a 31-24 lead with 1:43 to play in the half following a triple by Kennedy Taylor. Skyler Goodwin, who finished the game with six points, cut into that lead with a triple of her own before Williams hit a buzzer-beating jumper to cut the lead to 33-29 at halftime.
 
Williams attempted to power the Cajuns back into the game early in the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers to make the score 37-35, but Texas State (4-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) used another massive run, this one 20-10, to end the period with a 57-47 advantage.
 
Louisiana mounted one final push late when a Burton layup made the score 66-60 with 1:27 to play, but Texas State thwarted the rally to secure the 71-63 win.
 
Game two of the series will be played on Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN� and ESPN 1420.