UL Women Defeat Appalachian St., 60-51

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun women's basketball team recorded a Sun Belt Conference win on Saturday, defeating the Appalachian St. Mountaineers, 60-51, at the Cajundome.

The win by Louisiana, in what was their first league home game of the year, kept them unbeaten in two tries in conference play, while extending their season-opening win streak to five games.

The Cajuns jumped out on top, and trailed only once in the first quarter, 5-4, at the 5:19 mark of the initial frame, before grabbing the advantage, and holding the lead, 12-7, at the end of the first quarter.

Appalachian St. scored the first 6 points of the second quarter, to grab a 13-12 lead, before Louisiana responded, going on an 11-5 run over the last 6:52 of the quarter, to take a 23-18 lead into the locker room at halftime

Appalachian St. outshot Louisiana from the field in the first half, 33%/21%, holding the hosts to only 6-of-29 from the floor, but UL outrebounded Appalachian St., 20-17, while forcing 13 first half turnovers

Kia Wilridge led the way for the Cajuns in the first half, scoring 9 points, while Keke Cooper and Madi Story both had 4 at the break for the Mountaineers.

Appalachian St. began the second half strong, trimming the deficit to one point on three separate occasions, but Louisiana turned them back each time, and clung to a 42-39 lead after three quarters.

Again in the fourth quarter the Mountaineers got to within one point, 42-41, with 8:41 remaining, but the Louisiana defense held them to without a field goal for the next 5:25, to extend the lead to 47-43 with 3:16 to go.

Appalachian St. was able to trim the deficit to three points, 50-47, with 1:56 remaining, but Louisiana ended the game on a 10-4 run, as they went on to the 9-point win.

Appalachian St. ended the game outshooting Louisiana from the field, 38%/31%, holding the Cajuns to 16-of-51 shooting from the floor, including 0-of-9 from beyond the three-point line, along with a 39-33 rebound advantage.

It was the UL defense that was the difference in the game however, forcing 24 turnovers and 13 steals.

Wilridge led the way for the Cajuns, finishing with 15 points and 2 rebounds, while Keke Veal and Jaylin Gordon added 10 points apiece.

In a losing cause for the Mountaineers, Kaila Craven finished with 17 points and 3 rebounds, while Joi Jones had 9 points and 4 rebounds.

View the game box score.

With the victory, Louisiana improved to 9-2, overall, and 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Appalachian St. fell to 4-7, and 1-1, respectively.

The Cajuns return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Little Rock, Arkansas to take on the Little Rock Trojans in a Sun Belt Conference tilt.