Women’s Basketball: Missed shot costs Cajuns game against Georgia State

Special to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser, Feb. 9, 2019

ATLANTA — It was a great effort, and it came down to the final shot. 

But unfortunately for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team, that final shot taken by sophomore guard Jomyra Mathis, did not fall and it resulted in a 74-71 loss to the Georgia State Panthers at the GSU Sports Arena.

Freshman guard Brandi Williams once again was on fire, finishing with 24 points — one off her career-high — and she was joined by freshman guard Andrea Cournoyer (15), sophomore center Ty’Reona Doucet (14) and Mathis (10) in scoring double figures. 

Offensively UL (6-17, 4-8 SBC) shot 46 percent from the field, going 37 percent from beyond the arc to give them the second-highest total of points in conference play this season.

Georgia State (13-9, 7-4 SBC) came out of the gate and looked to take control of the game early, scoring the game’s first five points, but UL almost immediately reeled the Panthers back in after a three-point basket by Cournoyer at the five-minute mark.  Over the next five minutes, both teams traded leads and back-to-back baskets from Williams put UL up 14-16.

Much like the first quarter, both teams traded baskets throughout the second period, but the quarter started slow for both sides. A three-point basket by Janessa Murphy, followed quickly by freshman guard Diamond Morrison’s own three-point basket, around the 8:30 mark, got the scoring started for both teams.

Three times during the remainder of the period, UL took the lead but each time the Panthers responded in what was a true back-and-forth affair.

Williams once again came up big, hitting a layup and drawing a foul with 26 seconds left. She converted the old-fashioned three-point play, giving her 13 points in the first half, and it pulled UL to within two points of Georgia State heading into the break.

Over the first two minutes of the second half, the game was tied three different times.  A basket from Cournoyer sparked UL on an 8-0 run to build a slight six-point lead over the next two minutes.

UL held its lead for the remainder of the quarter.

Georgia State cut into UL’s lead over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. UL held on with a two-point lead with the score sitting at 56-54 with 7:22 to go in the game, when Georgia State tied it with a K.K. Williams layup.

An Allison Johnson layup at 2:33 put the score at 66-64, which sparked the Panthers and they pushed their lead to five points with one-minute remaining when Lewis drained a pair of free throws to put the score at 71-66.

But the Cajuns were not ready to go home empty handed just yet.

After a Cournoyer basket and Lewis hitting one-of-two free throws, Williams came up big in the corner, hitting a three-point basket to pull UL within one-point with 21 seconds remaining.

Georgia State’s Lewis then drained her next two free throws but UL had a chance to tie the game on the final possession. With the clock sitting at 16 seconds, UL came down the court, eventually finding Mathis on the left wing. 

Mathis pulled up for the game-tying basket, but unfortunately for UL the shot rimmed in and out of the basket as the buzzer rang, giving Georgia State the 74-71 win.

UL remains on the road in its next game, when on Saturday the Cajuns make the trip north to face in-state foe ULM in Monroe for a game that is scheduled to tip at 2 p.m.