Cajun Defensive Lapses Lead To Loss Against Little Rock

Garry Brodhead's Ragin' Cajuns Women's Basketball team prides itself on defense, and it let them down against Little Rock.

It was an ugly offensive first half, and both teams went into the half tied, 19-19. Neither team was able to get much going, and their stats were almost identical in terms of shooting, turnovers and rebounds. The second half was a bit different, but Brodhead expected things to pick up in the back end of the game.

"I knew it was going to be kind of boring in the first half," Brodhead said.

The Cajuns still didn't have a player in double-figures in the scoring column at the end of the third quarter either. Little Rock added four points to their lead in the third, including a buzzer beater from beyond the three point line, then outscored the Cajuns by five in the final quarter to finish it out, 58-49.

Brodhead's defense did a good job shutting down Alexius Dawn, who only had one shot and three points all game long. She averages over ten points per game, but the Cajuns might have paid too much attention to her.

Whenever there is a defensive lapse, Brodhead brings it up.

"I don't think we guarded them. We left them," Brodhead said after the game. "We were helping up on her [Dawn] to help Kia, and we left other people open."

Both teams hit the same amount of shots from the floor, but Little Rock beat them at the free throw line and in the rebounding department. Shanity James collected a 22 point, 12 rebound double-double to lead the way to a win, and Kaitlyn Pratt's 19 points helped push Little Rock over the edge.

Keke Veal led the Cajuns with 12 points (4-10 FG) and five assists, and Kia Wilridge put in a solid performance with 11 points and five rebounds. The problem was, they were the only two players who reached double-figures for Brodhead. The team only shot 37 percent, which wasn't good enough for a win. (Full Box Score)

The Cajuns, who started the season red-hot, are now 16-7 (9-5 SBC) and stuck in a three game losing streak. Momentum's pendulum is swinging in the wrong direction, but Brodhead hopes it comes back around.

"You lose, you rebound from it," Brodhead said. He just wants his team to learn from their losses, "You're either a winner or a learner."

You don't want to head into the conference tournament riding a losing streak, so the script desperately needs to get flipped for the Cajuns.