Women’s Basketball: Fun, historic night – UL women cruise to win before record crowd

Eric Narcisse, The Advertiser, November 13, 2012

No one can truly know what to expect from a basketball team whose roster is filled with young and inexperienced talent as UL is, but the Ragin’ Cajuns are living up to head coach Garry Brodhead’s promise that they will play hard and defend.

In front of a record setting crowd of 1,007, which broke the previous attendance record of 703 at Earl K. Long, the Ragin’ Cajuns routed the LSU-Shreveport Lady Pilots 83-42 to improve to 2-0 on the year.

"The atmosphere was so much fun for the kids," Brodhead said. "To be rewarded by a fan base that came to see us for the first time was great. I’m more elated by the crowd and the way they reacted to our play that I am anything else. I told the kids if you show effort and strap it up, people will come."

UL got after it in every aspect of the game, forcing 24 turnovers (17 steals), they outrebounded the Lady Pilots 48-30 (24 offensive) and shot 46.5 percent from the floor en route to the victory.

"I’ve always preached that we needed to play hard and work hard the entire game and we did that (Monday)," Brodhead said. "Once we got into our pressure defense, we took them out of their game. We still made a lot of mistakes and a lot of turnovers, but we played hard. We got after it on the boards. We were very aggressive to the ball and that was obvious with 48 rebounds."

Freshman point guard Kia Wilridge credited the Cajuns success Monday to their ability to play defense and provide relentless pressure on their opponent. The Cajuns held the Lady Pilots to 29.6 shooting from the field including 3-of-15 from behind the 3-point line.

"The key for us was our defense," Wilridge said. "Defense is our pride and joy. It’s the one part of the game that we spend the most of our practice time on."

The Lady Pilots (2-1), who defeated the Cajuns last year 63-50 and returned all five starters from that team, were led by Katie McCoy with 15 points, two rebounds and one steal.

Offensively, the Cajuns were led by freshman guard Sylvana Okde as she scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, handed out two assists and one steal.

"Playing for Coach Brodhead has done a lot for me and my shot," Okde said. "I’ve always been a shooter, but he has taught me a lot and it has worked."

In addition to Okde’s performance, the Ragin’ Cajuns enjoyed solid outings from five other players who also scored in double-figures such as junior forward Ashley Benjamin (12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals), Wilridge (11 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals), freshman guard Keke Veal (11 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), senior guard Brandi Schambough (11 points, 2 steals, 1 rebound) and sophomore forward Byronesha Santiago (10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal).

"We did pretty well," Wilridge said. "There are always things we can work on and get better at as a team, but we played well. I’m out there to make my teammates better. I just want to do whatever I can for us to succeed."

Wilridge, who came one rebound short of recording a double-double, has continued to impress Brodhead and his staff in the early going with her non-stop motor.

"Kia is a game-changer," Brodhead said. "I said it when she was a sophomore at St. Thomas More that they would win state because of her. She brings so much to the table and what people don’t see is just how hard she works in practice. It won’t be long before she is averaging a triple-double."

Although he is excited to have started the season with back-to-back wins, which marks the first time since 2004 that the Cajuns have opened a season 2-0, Brodhead isn’t the least bit interested in his programs record at this moment.

"For me it’s not about the wins and losses," Brodhead said. "Right now, it’s about how hard are we working and whether we are playing the way I think we should be playing. Are we going hard on every possession and are we doing things the right way. I believe in what we do here, so I believe we’re going to win. We are growing every day, but we are still way off on how good we can be."

Follow assistant sports editor Eric Narcisse on Twitter @tdanarcisse