With the career-performance for sophomore Ja’Mia Harris, Texas State knocked off the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL) Ragin’ Cajuns 69-58 on Wednesday inside Strahan Arena.
With the victory, Texas State improves to 11-15 while ULL drops to 12-13. This is the first Bobcats win on their home court since Jan. 11.
Along with 21 points from Harris, senior Jaylin Foster scored 19 and senior guard Destiny Terrell finished with 13 points for Texas State.
Top performers for the ULL Ragin’ Cajuns were Erica Lafayette with 15 points, Nubia Benedith with 13 and Skylah Travis with 10.
Overall both teams struggled with turnovers and fouls during this matchup. Texas State committed 21 fouls along with 18 turnovers, while ULL recorded 21 fouls and 19 turnovers.
“The second [thought process we had] was understanding what we needed to do to get better. As we want to make a run and put ourselves in a good enough position to make that run once we hit the [Sun Belt] conference tournament.” Texas State head coach Zenarae Antoine said.
Texas State got off to a quick start in this ball game. The Bobcats led 8-1 through three minutes of play after an and-one 3-pointer from Jaylin Foster. Fouls and free throws kept ULL in the game, but Texas State led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The Ragin’ Cajuns settled in during the second quarter, cleaning up their sluggish start. ULL opened the second with a fast 9-0 scoring run, tying the ball game at 18-18. Texas State responded with another run of its own, leading 32-23 with under three minutes remaining in the half. A back-and-forth ending to the first half resulted in a 36-31 Bobcats lead.
“We had a really tough time guarding that mid-range [jumpshot]. They are great mid-range scorers and they are patient with the ball,” said Antoine. “Offensively, I think we did okay. We were not great. Going into halftime, we talked about that, made the adjustments and came out. We had to have another timeout, but after that it felt like it was comfortable out there for them.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns outscored Texas State in the third quarter 19-15. With 7:32 remaining in the third, the Maroon and Gold led 42-35. ULL responded with a 9-2 run, tying the game at 44-44. Another back-and-forth ending to the quarter resulted in a 51-50 lead for Texas State.
In the fourth quarter, Texas State outscored the Ragin’ Cajuns 18-8 to close out the game. The Bobcats opened the quarter on a 6-1 scoring run and held the lead until time expired.
Texas State will play its final home game against the 9-18 Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
