In a Nov. 13 media availability appearance, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball head coach Gary Brodhead shed some light on the reasons for the team’s 1–2 start to the season.
The Cajuns had dropped back-to-back games against the Auburn Tigers and Kent State Golden Flashes the following week, both coming within single digits.
“I think the defenses really kind of threw us off,” Brodhead said. “Auburn was pressure, pressure, pressure. I think we like that, I thought we played really well, had the lead for quite a while.”
Brodhead opened up about the game plan going into the Auburn matchup and the focus on offense driving to the basket. This plan bore early results, as the Cajuns racked up 24 points in the paint and plenty of free throws.
“Didn’t shoot it well except for free throws. If you wanna look at a bright spot, we shot 80% from the free-throw line, and I tell my kids all the time, ‘we shoot over 75 [percent], we’re gonna win a lot of games,’” Brodhead said.
In the end, Auburn’s ability to grab offensive rebounds over the Cajuns defense helped them come back in the second half and steal the win 60–54 despite a late Cajuns push.
“Then you play Kent State, it’s more giving you some room, backing up, making you make decisions, and I thought they did a good job of defending us. Even though from in the stands it didn’t look like it, I thought they did a great job,” Brodhead said.
Again, the Cajuns took and made a healthy number of free throws and provided some rim pressure throughout the contest mostly fueled by senior guard Brandi Williams’ 17 points including 12–13 from the stripe, but an early struggle with settling for shots meant the offense would struggle to keep up with Kent State’s, resulting in a disappointing 55–64 loss.
“I didn’t think we shot the ball well, and that’s gonna be one of the things we work on,” Brodhead said.
The Cajuns would return to the Dome on Saturday, Nov. 18 to face the Nicholls Colonels looking to even the record.
Junior forward Tamera Johnson would get things going early for the Cajuns, going shot-for- shot with Nicholls’ Deonna Brister.
The Cajuns would again apply their typical formula, but with a curveball — just enough three-point efficiency to be a viable scoring method, mostly provided by Williams’ 5–13 in that department.
With 1:30 left to go in the game, the Cajuns found themselves down by eight and needed a boost. Junior guard Nubia Benedith hit a three on the right corner, and through an incredible sequence of defense, and clutch free throws from Johnson and senior guard Destiny Rice, the Cajuns equalized before the final buzzer, 56–56.
In overtime, it would again be Rice and Johnson’s almost-singlehanded effort from the floor and the free-throw line that put the game away, 69–63. Johnson, Williams and Rice all finished the game with 17 points. Johnson would add in 17 of the team’s 44 rebounds.
With this win, the Cajuns displayed the potential of its starting talent under pressure. Next up, the team will play the Xavier Louisiana Gold on Tuesday, Nov. 21.