UL Women Begin Season At McNeese St. – At A Glance

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun women’s basketball team opens their 2016-2017 regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon, when coach Garry Brodhead's squad travels to Lake Charles, La. to take on the McNeese St. Cowgirls in non-conference action.

Tipoff time at Burton Coliseum is scheduled for 2 pm.

You can hear all the play-by-play action on ESPN 1420 and espn1420.com, beginning with the pre-game show at 1:45 pm.

Louisiana, who went 25-10 last season, captured their second-consecutive Women's Basketball Invitational championship.

The Cajuns will be without the services of four players who played out their eligibility last season, including Keke Veal, who finished as the school’s third all-time leading scorer, Kia Wilridge, who became the 12th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark, Brooklyn Arceneaux, who played in all 35 games a season ago, starting 27, and Adrienne Prejean, who played in all 35 games a season ago, starting nine.

The Cajuns do return three players who started at least 16 games from last year’s squad, including senior guard Jaylyn Gordon, who averaged 14.9 points-per-game last season, along with junior guard Jodi Quinn, who averaged 2.9 points, and junior forward Simone Fields, who averaged 9.2 points a contest, to go along with 4.7 rebounds.

Louisiana will also be relying on the likes of senior Taylor Washington, sophomore Jordan Alexander, and sophomore Breionne Cooper, who all started multiple games last season, along with senior guard Sylvana Okde, who started 53 games during the her first two seasons, senior forward Gabby Alexander, who appeared in 29 games last year, and sophomore center Alex Weeks, who saw action in six games.

Newcomers for UL this season include freshmen Kimberly Burton, Jasmine Thomas, Brittney Miles, Danyale Bayonne, and Malachi Seraphin-Williams, along with junior college transfer Troi Swain, sophomore transfer Brooke Jolivette (North Texas), and Nekia Jones, a transfer from Texas, who will be available at the completion of the first semester.

McNeese St. posted a 20-13 overall record last season, and participated in the WBI for a fourth time in school history, falling to Stetson, 89-54.

The Cowgirls, who will be under the direction of first year head coach Kacie Cryer, who spent the last seven years serving as an assistant, return three starters from last year's squad, including senior Amber Donnes (9.0 ppg.), along with juniors Frederica Haywood (5.9 ppg.) and Jasmyn Carswell (5.6 ppg.).

Louisiana, who will play 14 home games this season, will play host to Dillard in an exhibition game next Saturday, will host Xavier (New Orleans) in their regular season home opener on December 1.