UT-Arlington Spoils Senior Night For Ragin’ Cajuns Women

It was a wild ride on senior night for the Ragin' Cajuns, but Louisiana ended up on the losing side of things at the Cajundome on Saturday night.

It looked like Jaylyn Gordon sent things to overtime with a three-pointer in the final ten seconds of the game, but UT-Arlington came up with a buzzer beater of their own to rob the Ragin' Cajuns of a glorious comeback, 79-76. Louisiana trailed by as many as 17 points with six and a half minutes to go, but they came up just short of a miraculous finish.

Head Coach Garry Brodhead was disappointed with the finish of the game, especially because he felt like UT-Arlington committed an offensive foul on the final possession.

"We worked hard, and I thought we had the opportunity to win the game," Brodhead said emotionally after the game. "We should have been shooting two shots to win the game."

Every team wants to win on senior night, but perhaps the tough loss will light a fire underneath Louisiana heading into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

It was a game of three point shots. The Ragin' Cajuns hit seven of their 18 attempts from deep, but UT-Arlington rained 11 of their 22 shots beyond the arc. Both teams lived and died by the three, and the Mavericks hit the deciding shot at the end.

Jaylyn Gordon (13 pts, 3 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl) and Gabby Alexander (14 pts, 6 reb) put on a good show in their final game at the Cajundome, but Troi Swain (19 pts, 4 reb) was the leading scorer. Swain splashed home four three-pointers, indicating that she has the hot hand heading into the conference tournament.

Louisiana went on a 16-1 run at one point in the second half, but their momentum at the end wasn't enough to deliver them a victory. They even worked through a borderline intentional foul call at the end of the game to tie the game in the final seconds. The fantasy finish just wasn't in the script.

The regular season finale wasn't the final chapter Brodhead and the Cajuns envisioned, but they're still a dangerous tournament team. They already exceeded a lot of expectations in 2017, now they have a heavier chip on their shoulder and an ax to grind.