Women’s Basketball: Pair of New Orleans Natives Lead Cajuns Past UNO, 71-42
Nick Ross, December 14, 2013
Contact: Nick Ross
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Jaylyn Gordon scored a career-high 15 points and added four assists to lead the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team past New Orleans, 71-42 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The Cajuns improved to 5-4 on the season and 2-3 on the road in the winning effort.
"I think we played with a lot of energy today," head coach Garry Brodhead said. "Eventually when we quit fouling and started guarding we were creating turnovers. That was our gameplan tonight, to try and get them to start playing fast and I thought we did a good job in spurts."
The Cajuns led for 37 minutes of basketball, taking an early lead and never looked back.
"I thought that we did a better job playing our man and creating turnovers," Brodhead added. "We were able to rotate five in and five out and it helped us stay fresh and on top of the game. Everybody played well, even though we got into foul trouble in the end."
Gordon, a native of greater New Orleans, scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half, and Sylvana Okde and Gabby Alexander each added ten points each, to lead the way for the Cajuns. UNO’s Jewel Angelo tied Gordon for the game-high with 15 points of her own, and Octavia Wilson added 12, all in the first half.
Freshman Jeremica Edwards, another New Orleans native, made the best of her first homecoming as well, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, including five on offense, while scoring six points.
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"We were hoping that we could get some rebounds out of her today," Brodhead said of Edwards. "Jaylyn [Gordon] did a good job on the offensive side as well, with her 15 points.
Down 7-6 early in the game, the Cajuns used an 18-5 run over a 12:02 time span, including holding UNO scoreless for 6:22 seconds, to take a 25-12 lead with 5:09 left in the half.
Sophomore Jasmin Mills, keyed the run with six points, and six other Cajuns had a basket to extend the lead.
UNO got four-straight points off of free throws from Wilson, to cut the deficit to 25-16, and a nine-point deficit, before the Cajuns finished the half with an 11-1 run, and a 35-17 lead through the first 20 minutes.
Gabby Alexander took charge during the run at the end of the first half. The freshman scored six of her team-leading eight first-half points, during the 3:37 span.
The Cajuns opened the second half much like they finished the first, with a 15-6 run to take a 27-point lead with 10:24 left in the game. Combined with their run to finish the half, it was a 26-7 run over a 13:25 span.
New Orleans cut the lead to 52-31 with 7:58 to play, but the Cajuns would take off from there.
They extended their lead to 30 points on two occasions, finishing the game with a 29-point lead, winning 71-42 over UNO.
Louisiana spread the ball around the court, with every Cajun to touch the floor registering a basket.
Sophomore Kia Wilridge made her season debut after missing the first eight games with an injury. She played five minutes, scoring three points and grabbing one rebound.
As a team, the Cajuns shot 41.4% (27-for-60), their second highest of the season, and held UNO to just 26.7% (8-for-30) from the field.
"We want her to take her time and get used to the flow of the game," Brodhead said of Wilridge’s return. "Her athletic ability is unbelievable and it helps a lot. It also excited our kids to have her back. We have been waiting a while for her."
The Ragin’ Cajuns will return home to take on Alcorn State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19 at the Earl K. Long Gymnasium. They will take a ten-day holiday break and return to the Cajundome to take on Southeastern Louisiana at 5 p.m. on Dec. 29.
