Trojans Overtake Cajuns Women's Basketball in Second Quarter

TROY, Ala. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Women's basketball team weathered a first quarter push from Troy, but was unable to overcome a pair of second quarter surges by the Trojans and dropped a Sun Belt Conference contest at Trojan Arena in Troy, Alabama on Wednesday, January 10 by a 90-44 count.

Tamera Johnson's free throw line jumper at 5:24 of the first quarter sparked a 9-0 run for Louisiana (5-8, 1-3 SBC) which erased an early 9-4 lead for the Trojans (6-8, 3-1 SBC). Lanay Wheaton's triple at 4:10 evened the score and it was Johnson scoring again at 3:42 to give the Cajuns an 11-9 advantage.

UL carried the lead into the second quarter, but fell behind as Troy pieced together a 16-0 run to lay claim to a 27-13 lead by the 5:31 mark. The Cajuns missed their first eight field goal opportunities of the quarter while the Trojans began to create distance.

Ashlyn Jones and Johnson scored on back-to-back possessions following turnovers by the Trojans to slice the deficit to 27-20 by the 3:16 mark. Troy, though, responded with a second double-figure scoring run – closing the quarter with 13 unanswered points for a 40-20 halftime edge.

Brandi Williams opened the second half with a triple at 9:40 of the third quarter to make it 40-23, however the Cajuns weren't able to produce any additional momentum and the Trojans reeled off a 16-2 run that increased the lead to 56-25 as the clock approached 5:30.

Louisiana was unable to find its shooting touch until late, and finished below 30 percent shooting in the second and third quarters while the Trojans pulled away. The Cajuns finished the night shooting 31 percent for the game (19-of-62).

Troy took over the contest by closing with three consecutive quarters of 20-plus points on 50-plus percent shooting. The Trojans ended the game shooting 55 percent from the field (37-of-67).

Freshman Uniyah Franklin put together a 4-for-4 shooting performance in the fourth quarter to finish tied with Johnson as the Cajuns' leading scorer with eight points. Conversely, the Trojans had four different scorers reach double figures.

The Trojans increased their series edge in Troy to 11-2 and recorded their largest margin of victory over the Cajuns.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns conclude their new year-opening, four-game road trip on Saturday, January 13 in Jonesboro, Arkansas facing the host-Arkansas State Red Wolves in a 12:00 p.m. contest at First National Bank Arena.

The meeting with the Red Wolves will be the final road contest in January, as Louisiana is set to enjoy a four-game, month-ending homestand following the tilt with ASU starting on January 18 vs. ULM at the Cajundome.

Saturday's game in Jonesboro can be viewed on ESPN+ and fans can listen to the action on The GOAT 103.3 FM and 1420 AM in the Acadiana region and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.

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