Louisiana Tech Defeats Cajuns 79-62

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns remain 0-for-Ruston.

Louisiana Tech held the Cajuns to 35.9 percent shooting and outrebounded the visitors 52-26 to take a 79-62 win over the Cajuns at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday night.

The Cajuns have never beaten the Lady Techsters in Ruston. The win gave Tech a measure of revenge over the Cajuns, who defeated the Techsters for the first time in history last year.

Ashley Santos led the Lady Techsters with 16 points and ten rebounds. Kierra Anthony added 13 points, Jasmine Leblanc chipped in twelve and Tiara Davenport scored ten.
Louisiana’s Keke Veal led all scorers with 23 points on 9-18 shooting. Jaylyn Gordon scored seventeen for the Cajuns.

The Cajuns trailed by four at halftime and fell behind by as many as 13 in the third quarter before rallying to within three points, 57-54 at the end of three quarters.

But Tech quickly increased the lead as the fourth quarter began and outscored the Cajuns 22-8 in the fourth quarter.

Louisiana Tech (5-5) never trailed after Kevione Moten hit a layup to give Tech the lead at 7-5 and led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter

The Cajuns tied the game on a three point play by Kia Wilridge at the 8:45 mark of the second quarter, but Kierra Anthony, who prepped at New Iberia Senior High hit a pair of shots to give Tech the lead for good. Tech increased the lead to 32-22 before the Cajuns scored the final six points of the half to trail just 32-28 at the half.

Tech opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run to grab a 15 point lead, 45-30 with 5:37 remaining in the quarter before the Cajuns put on a furious rally as Veal scored 13 points in the final 4:49 as the Cajuns outscored Tech 20-10 during that period to cut the lead to 57-54 at the end of three quarters.

The Cajuns, however, missed their first four shots and turned the ball over three times in the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter as the Techsters build the lead back to eight points. Tech put the game away with a 10-0 run.

The Cajuns lost despite forcing 27 turnovers and holding leading scorer Brandi Wingate to just six points, eleven under her average. But the Cajuns committed 19 turnovers of their own and were outscored 23-11 at the free throw line as Louisiana was whistled for 29 fouls, compared to just 18 for the home team.

Louisiana (7-2) will play its final non conference game on Dec. 29th when they face Alcorn State at the Cajundome.