Women’s Basketball:Thomas Leads Cajuns To 28 Point Win At ULM

Sophomore Jasmine Thomas finished with a full stat sheet as the Cajuns came away with their biggest margin of victory over ULM in school history. 

MONROE, La. – Sophomore Jasmine Thomas filled up the stat sheet, with 13 points, seven assists and five steals, while the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team racked up the points to come away with a, 76-48, 28-point win, over the ULM Warhawks at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

The 28 points is the largest margin of victory the Cajuns have ever had against ULM and their eighth straight win against ULM improves their record 11-11 (6-4 SBC).  As for ULM they’ve dropped their seventh straight game of the season and their record drops to 4-17 (1-9 SBC).
           
Senior Simone Fields finished with 12 points on 6 for 9 shooting and sophomore Kimberly Burton just missed a double-double finishing with a team high nine rebounds and she added nine points to the mix.

HOW IT HAPPENED (First Quarter): The Cajuns great shooting in the first half, began right away with Louisiana coming out of the gate going 3 for 4 from beyond the arc in the first five minutes of the quarter.  That was all kicked off by Thomas who hit a three-point basket in the Cajuns first possession of the game.
 
ULM cut into the Cajuns lead when at 4:41 they were shooting 63 percent in the quarter and the Warhawks took a one-point lead in the game with the score sitting at 12-11.  Both teams traded leads, and a three-pointer from ULM put them up by two points at the 2:38 mark in the quarter.  Neither team would score over the final stretch of the quarter and with that basket from ULM at 2:38, they took a two-point lead into the second period with the score sitting at 15-13.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Second Quarter): Again, the teams traded leads in the first minute of the period, and ULM took the lead for the final time in the game at the nine-minute mark.  From there the Cajuns took control of the half and they jumped on ULM with a 8-0 run over the next five minutes to put them up by six points. 
           
ULM fought back, and they cut the score the too 25-23 with the clock sitting at 3:48.  But again Louisiana took off running again, Freshman Skyler Goodwin, taking things into her own hands, sparked the Cajuns strong finish to the half as she went off on her own personal 5-0 to push the Cajuns lead to 30-23.  A quick response from ULM was shut down by back-to-back three-point baskets from senior Troi Swain and the Cajuns were riding high heading into the half as they had a eight point lead heading into the break with the score sitting at 36-28.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Third Quarter): Swain came out and picked up right where she left off with a three-point basket to put the Cajuns up by 11.  Through the period the Cajuns kept attempting to pull away from ULM, but the Warhawks pushed back never letting Louisiana get more then 12 points ahead through the majority of the period.  Burton came alive in the quarter, scoring seven points on 3 for 3 shooting and she grabbed three boards throughout the period.  The Cajuns pushed their advantage to 13 points down the stretch, as a basket from Burton and Ty’Reonne Doucet pushed the score to 56-43 as the game went into the final period.

HOW IT HAPPENED (Fourth Quarter): It was in the final 10 minutes where the Cajuns asserted their dominance over ULM as they outscored the Warhawks 20-5 in the period.  Fields dominated the first four minutes of the quarter.  In fact, she went on her own personal 8-2 run to push the Cajuns lead to 17 points with the score sitting at 62-45.
           
Louisiana wasn’t finished as they saw the gap extend they began to lock things down defensively as well, ULM’s basket at 7:17 would be the last shot from the field that the Warhawks would make through the remainder of the game.  ULM only shot 2 for 15 from the field in the quarter while the Cajuns shot 57 percent. A 14-1 run by Louisiana to finish the game, wrapped up nicely by a three-point basket from redshirt-freshman Danyale Bayonne with 35 seconds left in the game, put the final score of the game at 76-48 in what was the biggest margin of victory against ULM the Cajuns have ever had.

NOTEWORTHY: The seven assists for Thomas ties a career high; The 17 assists in the game ties the most the Cajuns have had in a game, getting 17 against Arkansas State on Dec. 31, 2017.  The 28 points is the largest margin of victory the Cajuns have ever had against a Sun Belt Conference opponent, surpassing the 27-point margin of victory they had against Georgia Southern on Feb. 28, 2015 (62-35).

UP NEXT FOR THE CAJUNS: Louisiana continues their three-game road stretch with a trip east to the state of Georgia.  On Thursday, Feb. 8 the Cajuns will visit Atlanta, to take on the Georgia State Panthers and that game will be the second straight game on ESPN3 for the Cajuns.
           
They’ll wrap up the Georgia swing with a visit to Statesboro, when they play the Georgia Southern Eagles on Saturday, Feb. 10.  Louisiana then returns to the Cajundome the following weekend when they host the Texas schools.  First, they’ll face off with Texas State on Thursday, Feb. 15 and they finish the weekend hosting UT-Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 17.

FOLLOWING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS: Follow the Cajuns on twitter @RaginCajunsWBB for updates during that games, and links to live stats, live streams and recaps following the games.