The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns’ women’s basketball team wasthe Marshall Thundering Herd 48-46 on Thursday afternoon at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The loss eliminates the Cajuns from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Despite these two teams battling in a high-scoring 92-88 contest in the regular season, this one got off to a sluggish offensive start. The Cajuns led 5-3 at the first media timeout.
Louisiana made a run to make it 16-6, but Marshall quickly answered to close the gap. That happened again later in the half. Skylah Travis made a layup to give the Cajuns a 20-11 lead, but CC Mays made a three that sparked a Herd run, closing the gap down to one. At the half, Louisiana only led 25-22.
The close nature of this game continued into the third quarter. The Cajuns briefly took a six point lead at 29-23, but Marshall responded with an 11-0 run, led by Aislynn Hayes who was hitting shots from all areas of the floor. By the end of the quarter, Louisiana had battled back and took a 39-36 lead into the final period.
In the final quarter, scoring once again became very difficult for both teams. Inside of two minutes left, Marshall put together a run with five straight points to take a 47-44 lead. The Cajuns got two free throws from Nubia Benedith to make it 47-46, and then drew an offensive foul to get the ball back with 30 seconds left.
On the possession, the Cajuns turned the ball over on an attempted pass underneath the basket. Louisiana ended up getting one more chance with three seconds left down by two, but could not make a buzzer-beater. Marshall held on for the win.
BIG NUMBER: 46
After scoring more than 90 the first times these two teams played, the Cajuns offense just could not get any sense of rhythm going. That hurt them in a win or go home situation.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Aislynn Hayes
Hayes was most of Marshall’s offense in this game. She scored 21 of 48 points for the Herd, helping them to the critical win.
UP NEXT: With the loss, the Cajuns season comes to a close.