Women’s basketball dominates in performance vs. Troy Trojans

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team won at home in their rematch against the No.3-in-conference Troy Trojans on Saturday, Jan. 25. The 70–53 blowout snapped a three-game losing streak for the Cajuns and improved their conference record to 5–4.

During a Jan. 23 press conference held after the team’s loss to Arkansas State, Head Coach Garry Brodhead talked about forced pace leading to turnovers and lack of offensive execution, which he cited as the main source for the team’s conference struggles.

“[Troy] are gonna try to make us play fast, fast, and usually when you play fast on offense, that’s when the turnovers usually happen,” Brodhead said. 

“We gotta do a little bit better job of trying to slow down and not try to run with them and take care of the ball.”

Brodhead didn’t pull any punches in reiterating previous comments as to the form and fitness of his squad.

“This team right here is probably the worst-shape team I’ve ever had. I mean, they’re good athletes, don’t get me wrong, but we’re not in great shape,” Brodhead said.

“I didn’t think we had a great summer, and I think that carries over when you’re not able to get in the weight room.”

Brodhead gave props to the Red Wolves’ game plan in getting the Cajuns’ best shooters away from the ball by doubling and pressing guard Tamiah Robinson.

“With the press and all that, the ball’s in her hands a lot, and so they love to double her up and we’re trying to do that to one [of theirs] too, double them up to give up the ball and try not to let them get it back,” Brodhead said.

In the game Saturday, the Cajuns managed to match Troy’s pace much better overall despite playing just an eight-player rotation.

The team leaned on what it does best: playing defense and getting physical on both sides of the ball. They built a comfortable 31–18 lead in the first half by holding the Trojans to single digits in both quarters.

The Cajuns capitalized in the turnover battle, giving up only 14 to Troy’s 26.

They also won in the rest of the toughness margins: free throws, paint points, points off turnovers and fast break points, all this without starting big Kamryn Jones.

Whenever Troy picked at the lead in the second half, the Cajuns answered, and in the fourth, forward Ashlyn Jones and guard Erica Lafayette took over, finishing with 20 points (6–15, 53% TS) and 19 points (7–12, 65% TS) respectively and combining to score the team’s last 10 points to put a wet blanket on the Trojan’s dismal outing.

After the game, Brodhead, Jones and guard Nubia Benedith talked about the goals they’d marked out for this specific game, like holding Troy to 55 points or less and creating 10 or more assists, all of which the Cajuns were able to reach.

“We controlled it. [Troy] never had the lead any of the game, so I thought that was big too,” Brodhead said. “It kept them trying to play maybe a little bit too fast for themselves, and they were getting antsy.”

“It really was a big-time win that we needed, and they stepped up.”

Jones talked about her mindset heading into the matchup down some size on her team and the charge her coach gave her to step up. 

“At the beginning of the game, I knew Kam wasn’t gonna be playing and one of the first things [Brodhead] told me was, ‘Ash, Kam’s not gonna be in the game, so you need to go rebound,’ so I was like, ‘Yes sir, I got you,’” Jones said.

“All throughout the game, I had it in my mind, ‘Okay Ash, just try to get where you can, and when they shoot get on the back side, push them under the rim so you can get their rebound.’”

That effort on the boards prompted most of her scoring opportunities and created for others on the break after Troy’s misses. Jones gave full credit to her teammates for finding her in spots where she was open.

Benedith talked about the mental side of the game and how the team compartmentalizes and moves forward even when wins are hard to come by.

“With the conference schedule being Thursdays and Saturdays, you have to just bounce back. You have to learn from whatever mistakes you made and what good you did; you have to learn from that and move to the next game,” Benedith said.

Next up for the team is a trip to Boone, NC to face the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Thursday, Jan. 30, followed by a match against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in Conway on Saturday, Feb. 1.