The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s basketball team put together two of their most complete end-to-end performances at home last week, winning their matchups against the Texas State Bobcats on Wednesday, Feb. 12 and the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks on Saturday, Feb. 15.
These wins drew the Cajuns to an even 12–12 overall record, and placed the team within striking distance of the top four teams of the conference at 8–6.
In both games, the Cajuns used their strengths on both sides of the ball to generate success, holding both opponents to 36% from the field with their defensive intensity and winning paint points by a cumulative 74–36 with their driving ability and size advantage.
In Wednesday’s game, both teams kept things close throughout, playing a physical, low-scoring second quarter before ramping scoring up in the third.
Despite the home team taking great care of the ball and winning the turnover battle 20–8, the game was still very much in hand for both teams as the Cajuns entered with just a four-point lead.
It was in the last quarter that the team finally put together the finish that has eluded them most of the season, winning the period 25–13 to blow the game wide open, 71–54.
The team did a great job sharing the ball and finding great shots late. Starters Tamiah Robinson, Erica Lafayette and Nubia Benedith all managed to score multiple times down the stretch.
Robinson in particular picked her spots well, managing to lead all scorers with 18 points in the contest and record 3 assists and a steal as well.
Head Coach Gary Brodhead talked post-game about the detail that the team put into its gameplan to generate turnovers in this matchup.
“I thought we contained them pretty good. We’re doing a lot of jump switching and trapping,” Brodhead said. “We worked on it this week and I think that’s what we needed, to be able to see it in practice and kinda do it in the game.”
“The guards do a good job of hedging and also jump switching and all that, so that kinda got them off guard.”
Robinson and Benedith also spoke post-game about their approach to offense in the game.
“I think I was just taking what they were giving me, which was if I had an open block, I was getting to the open block, and if I had a pull-up, I had to pull up, and I think I did a good job at taking what they were giving me,” Robinson said.
She added that she had to be a willing passer throughout, especially to her bigs on the block.
When asked about her confidence to take tough shots on the court, Benedith said that it was just business as usual for her.
“A lot of times I just think about how I’ve been playing basketball all my life. It’s just a basketball game. I go out there and do what I’ve been doing for years, and I just let it come to me and flow, and my teammates do a great job of supporting me and always having my back,” Benedith said.
In Saturday’s Senior Night game, the Cajuns produced a much better second-quarter pace than the previous outing, racking up a 21-point lead at the half, topped off with a beautiful step-through layup out of the post by Aasia Sam with just a second remaining.
The Warhawks only really threatened this lead once, pulling back to within seven before the Cajuns poured on a 9–0 run, re-establishing the scoring gap and coasting to a 80–60 win.
A huge part of this blowout was the efficiency of Erica Lafayette, who put together another standout scoring performance.
She scored 22 points (leading all players), going 8–9 from the field, including 3–3 from 3-point range.
After the game, Lafayette talked about what shifted for her to get back to her usual form from the past few games.
“Just the energy. Just — I don’t know. I just play. I think a lot of times before the other games I had stuff going on, so I was like,’Today I’m just gonna play.’ I had a good week, Coach trusted in my everyday, but we just keep going,” Lafayette said.
Next up for the team is a trip to Fant- Ewing Coliseum for a rematch with the Warhawks, on Saturday, Feb. 22, then a drive back to the Cajundome to face the South Alabama Jaguars on Wednesday, Feb. 26.