Lady Cajuns Fall to UALR, 74-60, in Sun Belt Matchup

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Brooklyn Arceneaux tied her career-high of 19 points, but it wasn't enough for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team, who fell to the UALR Trojans 74-60 at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Cajuns fell to 10-9 on the season and 3-5 in Sun Belt games.

"I thought we didn't defend well tonight," head coach Garry Brodhead said. "We tried to throw a zone defense at them and it wasn't very effective because they shot the ball extremely well. We didn't play with a lot of effort and didn't play our basketball tonight. We will get back at it tomorrow and learn something from this game."

Arceneaux added seven rebounds to her 19 points, a feat she has achieved twice now, first against South Alabama on Jan. 15. She has scored ten-or-more points in the six of the last seven games.

"I think she can be a lot better," Brodhead said of Arceneaux. "She kind of ran out of gas at the end. She could be a really good player for us, obviously she has some good numbers."

Sylvana Okde also reached double-figures, doing so for her 12th time this season, scoring 14 points and adding four rebounds, while shooting 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

The Trojans proved why they have the leagues stingiest defense in the first half, holding the Cajuns to 20 points, and 8-for-23 (34.8 %) shooting from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point land in the first 20 minutes.

Arceneaux led the Cajuns in the first half, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds. Taylor Gault and Taylor Ford led UALR in the first half, scoring nine points each.

The game would take a complete turn from a defensive battle in the first, turning into a high-scoring affair in the second half.

The Cajuns doubled their offensive output from the first half, scoring 40 points, but UALR did enough to keep it out of reach, getting 13 points from Gault, and spreading the ball around to score 42 of their own.

"We replaced some people who weren't playing hard in the first half," Brodhead said on a second half adjustment. "We tried to have more action and get Arceneaux the ball a bit more. We got the ball to the rim and created more plays, and we had better effort."

The Cajuns cut the Trojans lead to five points early in the first half, but UALR responded with a 15-6 run of their own, taking a 14-point lead, and eventually pushed their lead to 19 points with 4:53 left in the game to put it out of reach.

The Cajuns did not hit their first triple until Okde hit one with 4:38 left in the game, missing on their first 12 attempts of the game. For Okde, it was the 22nd consecutive game in which she hit a three, and erased the possibility of the Cajuns going without a triple for the first time since Feb. 11, 2012 against Arkansas State.

"They are a good defensive team," Brodhead said. "They denied the ball to [Okde] and they squeezed our offense. They gave her some open looks on the backside, and we figured that out in the second half, but they did a good job denying her the ball and limiting her touches."

The Cajuns will return to the Cajundome on Saturday when they take on in-state foe ULM for a 5 p.m. tipoff. The Cajuns will take to the road for a pair of games in Texas after that, taking on UT Arlington on Feb. 6 at noon, and Texas State on Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.