On Saturday afternoon from the Sports Arena, Georgia State women’s basketball was defeated by the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns by a final score of 63-56. The Panthers’ record now stands at 8-10 along with a 3-6 record against Sun Belt opponents.
“We missed a lot of open shots,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said after the game. “It’s deflating when you miss those open shots. At one point, we started pressing and got tired.”
First Half
The game saw a slow start for both teams as neither team scored for the first two minutes. Louisiana-Lafayette junior guard Kia Wilridge scored the first pair of points of the game, but the Panthers tied it up at two apiece with a fastbreak layup by Miranda Smith.
Cajuns junior forward Adrienne Prejean gave her team a 4-2 lead. It would be short lived as Georgia State responded with another layup by Smith to tie the game again at four.
UL-Lafayette’s Keke Veal then scored her first two points giving the Cajuns a 6-4 lead. The Panthers then embarked on an 10-0 run that included six points from Haley Gerrin off the bench giving Georgia State a 14-6 lead. The Panthers also got two-point baskets from Gaby Moss and Kayla Nolan as well as a block from Gerrin.
The Cajuns then answered with nine consecutive points that began with a three-pointer by sophomore point guard Jaylyn Gordon. She contributed a steal which led to a layup and a made free throw by senior guard Robbie Brown after a foul assessed against Gerrin.
Another three from Gordon increased her point total to six and allowed Louisiana-Lafayette to retake the lead at 15-14 with under eight minutes to play in the first half. That lead grew to 19-14 with layups from Veal and junior forward Jasmin Fields.
Two more free throws from Gordon after a foul against Makeba Ponder made it a 21-14 game and extended the UL-Lafayette scoring run to 15-0 over the previous three minutes.
The Cajuns maintained their seven-point advantage with leads of 23-16, 25-18, and 27-20. Freshman Louisiana-Lafayette forward Simone Fields made a pair of free throws after being fouled by Mariam Hannoun with 22 seconds to play in the half. At the half, Louisiana-Lafayette led Georgia State 29-20.
Second Half
The Panthers’ first three points of the second half all came via free throws. Gerrin made one of two after being fouled by Prejean. Kennesha Nichols then made a pair from the line after a foul charged to Fields.
The free throws got Georgia State within six with the score at 29-23 in favor of the Cajuns. A pair of layups by Veal extended the Louisiana-Lafayette lead back to 10 at 33-23.
The Panthers then cut their deficit to one with a 9-0 run with four points from Kayla Nolan, three by Brittany Logan, and two from Alisha Andrews. This made the score 33-32.
With Louisiana-Lafayette leading 35-34, two points each from Prejean and Gordon along with a three from Brown grew their lead back to seven at 42-34.
Brown would later make a free throw after a foul charged against Ashley Watson making the score 43-34 in the Cajuns’ favor. The Panthers then went on a 5-1 run that included a pair of layups by Logan to up her point total to nine. Watson also made a free throw after being fouled by Gordon. The only point for Louisiana-Lafayette came from junior point guard Kia Wilridge after being fouled by Gerrin.
Louisiana-Lafayette widened its lead back to 49-39 with three more points by Brown and two made free throws from Gordon after being fouled by Logan.
Georgia State managed to cut its deficit to seven with 3 minutes and 52 seconds remaining. Gordon made a pair of free throws making the game 51-42 in UL-Lafayette’s favor.
The Panthers closed to within four with a made free throw by Logan and two layups from Andrews to make the score 51-47. Louisiana-Lafayette responded with a pair of free throws each by Gordon and Wilridge expanding the Cajuns lead back out to 55-47.
With the score at 57-49 in favor of the Cajuns, Andrews was charged with a foul against Veal who made a pair of free throws as Louisiana-Lafayette went ahead 59-49.
With under a minute to play, Nichols made a layup bringing Georgia State within eight at 59-51. Nolan would later be charged with a foul against Veal who made one free throw extending the UL-Lafaytte lead to 60-51. A layup from Watson cut the Panthers’ deficit to 60-53, prompting a Georgia State timeout.
Veal then made one free throw after being fouled by Nolan giving the Cajuns a 61-53 lead. One free throw from Makeba Ponder along with a layup by Smith brought the Panthers within 61-56, but Smith was then charged with a foul against Brown who made both of her free throws with ten seconds left.
They made the score 63-56 in UL-Lafayette’s favor, the Cajuns’ margin of victory over Georgia State.
The Panthers will take the court Thursday on the road at UT-Arlington at 6 p.m.
Georgia State stats
Nolan: 13 points, 4-7 shooting
Logan: 10 points
UL-Lafayette stats
Gordon: 18 points, 10-12 FTs
Veal: 14 points
