The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team lost the second game of their most recent road trip against the Troy Trojans on Saturday, Jan. 18, 81–73, bringing their conference record to a middling 4–3.
During a press conference held Jan. 13 before the trip, Head Coach Garry Brodhead anticipated the toughness of both the Arkansas State Red Wolves, who the Cajuns lost to in overtime the previous match, and the Trojans.
“Arkansas State, we haven’t had as much success as we’d like to,” Brodhead said. “Troy is a tough team to play. Both of them are playing similar. Seems like Arkansas State’s changed their system a little bit to play a little bit faster, shooting threes, press the whole game, so it’s gonna be anxious to see. Both games will be tough, so can we withstand that?”
Asked specifically about the outstanding pace of the Trojans and his desire to slow the game down, Brodhead was candid on how he felt the game would be won.
“I don’t think our program can withstand the whole forty minutes of playing like Troy,” Brodhead said. “You gotta know when to run and when not to run, cause they want you to continue to be like them and keep coming.
“I always felt like you’re never out [of] a game with Troy, you gotta realize you can go down by ten and within five minutes you’re back even again.”
Brodhead gave a glowing review of junior guard Jaylyn James, who had come off the bench to great effect in recent games.
“She did good. She’s one of them that’s pretty much always in shape. Her body type allows her to just get up and down the floor. She plays with a lot of high energy,” Brodhead said.
“I don’t think enough people give her credit for how she’s really bought into our defense. You have a scorer that you’re putting out there that can really guard.”
In what was a sloppy game for both teams Saturday (17 turnovers each!), the Trojans won the points off turnovers battle handily 21–13. The difference was mostly made up by the fast break, where the speed of the Trojan guards made an impact.
After keeping up well with the Trojans through the first half, 35–36, Brodhead’s fears came to call. The Cajun’s offense proceeded to completely stall out in the face of the Trojans’ effort and adjustments, giving up 13 unanswered points to start the third quarter and managing a mere nine points in the period.
From there, the flow of the game never got back into a space for the Cajuns to make a run. The Trojans kept running, the team didn’t shoot as well as typical and stops were hard to generate.
Cajuns senior guard Tamiah Robinson led all scorers for the game with 21 points on 6–14 from the field with seven made free throws, just her fourth game with 20+ points as a Cajun.
The Cajuns sharpshooter and current leading scorer on the season Erica Lafayette had a tough game, going 4–12 from the field and just 2–6 from distance when we’ve seen better efficiency on volume lately.
Brodhead stressed again that physicality and transition play continues to be the most important facet of the team to him.
“Any time that you have any type of system, if the kids believe in it, it seems like it works a little better,” Brodhead said. “I think on the road, that’s one of the things that we really, really preach, we may not be making shots like we’re capable of, the offense may not be as productive as we want it to be, but you can always defend.”
He also talked about the way the team’s continued buy-in solidifies the system regardless of the atmosphere.
“I think they’re starting to believe in making stops. When we make stops and we play good defense, our offense seems to get better and vice versa, so I think that’s the thing,” Brodhead said.
“Ever since I’ve been here, I don’t think the road really bothers us that much. Maybe we don’t match up with the team that good, but the road’s not as bad.”
Next up for the team is a return to the Cajundome to continue conference play against the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Thursday, Jan. 23, followed by a rematch with Troy on Saturday, Jan. 25.