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Women’s Basketball: Veal Nets 25, Field Double-Doubles in Win at Texas State
Cajuns outscore Bobcats, 35-23 in second half to sweep Texas Road Trip
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team split the 2015-16 regular season series with Texas State, outlasting the Bobcats, 59-47 at Strahan Coliseum Saturday afternoon. The win improved the Cajuns record to 18-7 and 11-5 in Sun Belt Conference play this season. Louisiana holds a 6-4 record on the road with the victory. Senior guard Keke Veal poured in a game-high 25 points to go with four rebounds and five assists in all 40 minutes of the contest. Sophomore forward Simone Fields picked up her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. "I think everyone did their role today, which is what we always talk about," Ragin’ Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "Defensively, we did really well – Kia [Wilridge], Jodi [Quinn] and Brooklyn [Arceneaux] did an awesome job of clogging up the middle of the floor," Brodhead added. "We moved the ball really well and took advantage of some nice shots. We always talk about attacking the lane and today we did that." The first half was a back-and-forth affair. The Bobcats held an early 8-5 lead, but the Cajuns rattled off 10 straight points, the last four from Veal. Texas State closed out the first quarter on an 11-2 run, taking a narrow 19-17 lead into the second quarter. The Bobcats’ lead reached 22-17 at the 8:47 mark of the second quarter after a three-pointer by Taeler Deer. Redshirt junior Sylvana Okde answered with a three of her own to pull the Cajuns to within 22-20 with just over seven minutes to play in the second. Veal gave the Cajuns the lead back with consecutive layups with 5:19 to go. After Texas State tied the game at 24-24 on a layup by Deer with 4:33 left in the second quarter, neither team scored for the remainder of the half. Veal scored 13 of her points in the first half. Fields led all Cajuns with five rebounds. The third quarter was headlined by three tied scores in the first 3:35. Fields’ layup with 5:43 on the clock regained the lead for UL at 33-31. The Cajuns maintained their advantage for the remainder of the third quarter and took a 42-37 lead into the final stanza. Louisiana kept its foot on the gas in the fourth quarter, pushing its lead to double-digits at 55-44 with 2:51 remaining. Their lead reached as many as 13 points after senior Brooklyn Arceneaux spashed a jumper with 1:38 to go. The Cajuns shot a sizzling 53.8% (14-of-26) from the floor in the second half and outrebounded Texas State 14-11 in the third and fourth quarters. The Cajuns deposited 7-of-8 shots from the charity stripe (87.5%) after halftime. The Cajuns are off until next Thursday, Feb. 25 when they visit Troy for a 5:15 p.m. tip-off.
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