UL Women Fall To Texas St., 46-42

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun women's basketball team fell at home in Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday, dropping a 46-42 decision to the Texas St. Bobcats at the Cajundome.

The setback put an end to Louisiana's four-game win streak, and also gave them their first home loss in 8 games this season.

The Cajuns scored the first three, and seven of the first nine points of the game, before leading after the completion of the first quarter, 7-5.

Louisiana opened the second quarter by scoring the first 8 points, to extend their lead to 15-5 at the 8:39 mark of the period.

Texas St. was able to make a run the remainder of the half however, outscoring UL, 18-7, the rest of the half, to trim the deficit to 23-22 as the two teams headed for their respective locker rooms at halftime.

Both teams shot 32% from the field in the first half, with the Cajuns outrebounding the Bobcats over the first 20:00, 20-17.

Sylvana Okde led the way for Louisiana in the first half, scoring 6 points, while Ayriel Anderson had 9 points at the break for Texas St.

Louisiana scored the first four points of the second half, to extend their advantage to 27-22 at the 7:41 mark of the third quarter, before leading 37-31 at the end of the third period.

The Bobcats went on a 9-2 run to begin the fourth quarter, and grabbed their first lead of the game, 40-39, with 2:13 remaining.

Following a free throw by Raven Burns at the with 1:36 to go, to widen the Texas St. lead to 41-39, UL tied it with a Kia Wilridge layup with :43 left, 41-41.

After Anderson hit two free throws with :34 remaining to give the Bobcats the lead back, 43-41, Keke Veal went to the free throw line for the Cajuns, with a chance to tie the game.

After making the first free throw, Veal missed the second, as Texas St. clung to a 1-point lead.

After De'jionae Calloway hit one of two free throws, giving the Bobcats a 44-42 lead, the Cajuns had one final chance, but a jumper with :03 left was off the mark, and was followed by a technical foul on the UL bench.

That proved to be the nail in the coffin, as Texas St. went on to the 4-point win.

Texas St. ended the game outshooting Louisiana from the field, 29%/28%, while the Cajuns finished a 40-31 rebound advantage.

Leading the way for the Bobcats was Anderson, who finished with 16 points and 3 rebounds, while Burns added 11 points.

In a losing cause for the Cajuns, Wilridge finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds, while Simone Fields chipped in with 8 points and 3 boards.

View the game box score.

With the victory, Texas St improved to 10-8, overall, and 5-3 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Louisiana fell to 14-4, and 7-2, respectively.

The Cajuns return to action on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm, when they play host to UT-Arlington.