Women’s Basketball: Women’s Hoops Comes Away Victorious on Senior Night

Box Score

The Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball used a 19-0 to break open a three-point contest in the first half and build more than enough cushion to claim an 82-65 victory over La.-Monroe Saturday evening at the Cajundome.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns (7-22, 1-15 Sun Belt) picked up their first Sun Belt Conference win of the season avoiding a winless campaign in league action and sent their seniors out in style.
 
UL, coming off a 62-60 overtime win over Nebraska-Omaha on Monday, collected its second straight victory marking back-to-back wins for the first time since winning four straight games from Nov. 29-Dec. 11.
 
The game-deciding run turned a 21-18 lead into a 40-18 advantage and La.-Monroe (9-20, 7-9 Sun Belt) was never able to get the deficit back into single digits.
 
The Warhawks did take advantage of a Cajuns scoring lull – UL scored only two points from 14:58 through 8:10 of the second half – and dropped the deficit to 57-45 following a pair of Christina Gray free throws with 8:31 remaining.
 
The Cajuns responded with a quick 6-0 run that covered just under two minutes of action and the lead was extended to 63-45. Krystal Motley, Robbie Brown and Michelle Brunker all contributed to the run.
 
UL put the finishing touches on the triumph when a Nicole Morris triple at 5:29 stretched the lead to 66-47, then baskets from Brunker at 4:43 and Brown at 4:17 returned the lead to 20-plus points at 70-49.
 
Motley led the Cajuns in scoring in her final home game with 19 points. She was joined in double figures by Brown (16), Morris (14), Laurie’ Beaty (11) and Brunker (10).
 
Louisiana shot above 50 percent in both halves resulting in the highest offensive output of the season. The Cajuns finished at 51.7 percent (30-of-58) and limited the Warhawks to 32.1 percent (25-of-78).
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns now head to the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Championships in Hot Springs, Ark., scheduled for March 3-6 at the Summit Arena and Hot Springs Convention Center. The Cajuns, seeded No. 6 in the Sun Belt West, will face off with FIU, the No. 3 seed from the Sun Belt East, at 12 p.m., on Saturday, March 3 in the opening round of the event.
 
A pair of Larrie Williams freebies at 10:39 and an Elizabeth Torres three-pointer on the right elbow at 10:08 produced a five-point spurt that helped the Warhawks draw even at 14-all.
 
Louisiana answered with a Motley jumper at 9:35 to reclaim the lead. A triple by Beaty with 8:24 remaining in the opening stanza gave UL a five-point lead at 21-16.
 
La.-Monroe came right back and had a Jasmine Shaw basket at 8:09 cut the Cajuns lead to 21-18. That would be the visitors last field goal make until the 1:26 mark and the Cajuns embarked on the 19-0 run that opened a comfortable halftime margin.
 
The Cajuns lead moved into double figures when Brown converted a fastbreak layup at 4:12. A Warhawks turnover at 2:15 saw Brooklyn Arceneaux launch a pass to Brown for another layup that vaulted UL’s lead into 20 points at 38-18.
 
Motley converted a stop-and-pop jumper at 1:39 and Louisiana led 40-18. La.-Monroe broke the run with a Zollicoffer basket at 1:26.
 
Brown drained a triple on the left wing with 45 seconds remaining to assure the Cajuns halftime lead remained above 20 points.
 
UL shot 51.5 percent in the opening stanza (17-of-33) and the defense limited the Warhawks to 25.7 percent (9-of-35).
 
The Cajuns wasted little time stretching their lead in the second half. Morris hit a trey at 19:34 and a Motley jumper at 18:34 made it 48-22.
 
Louisiana then ran off six unanswered points over a one-minute span to open their largest lead of the night at 55-26 with 14:58 remaining in the game.

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