Saturday afternoon was just one of those games for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. Throughout the contest, it felt like they had a chance to mount a big comeback, but their early struggles proved to be too much to overcome, losing to Little Rock 59-42, snapping their three-game winning streak in the process.
How It Happened:
After a sloppy start for both teams that saw nine combined turnovers in opening five minutes, Little Rock started to establish control, going on an 8-2 run to set up a 12-8 at the first media timeout. Things didn’t look much better though with back-to-back threes from the Trojans forced an early timeout from Garry Brodhead. Things did look a little better for the Cajuns as the first quarter came to a close with Andrea Cournoyer drained a deep three as time expired to make it 25-16.
The second quarter saw Little Rock waste very little time taking control of the contest with a 7-0 run to take a 15-point lead. However, Louisiana responded with a 10-3 run to end the first half down by nine points.
The third quarter saw the Cajuns go cold from the field, making only 3-of-13 from the floor and that gave the Trojans ample time to set themselves up with a 50-33 lead thanks to a 6-2 run to end the penultimate quarter of action.
It was more of the same in the fourth quarter with Louisiana going cold from the field in the final moments, sealing the win for the Trojans.
Big Number: 20
The ball-handling for the Cajuns on Saturday afternoon left a lot to be desired with a total of 20 turnovers committed in the losing effort. This may be a game that this team needs to flush and quickly if they want to keep their head above water as the month of February begins.
Player of the Game: Alayzha Knapp
The freshman out of Tulsa, Oklahoma put on one of the best performances of her young career with a career-high 21 points,19 of which came in the first half where she was a perfect nine-for-nine. The Trojans future looks bright with Knapp as a part of this program.
Next Up: Thursday at South Alabama; Tipoff at 7 pm