UL Women’s Basketball Opens Sun Belt Conference Tournament Against WKU

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun women’s basketball team returns to the hardwood on  Wednesday night, when coach Garry Brodhead’s squad takes on the WKU Lady Toppers in the opening round of the postseason Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.

The winner will advance to play on Thursday, against the UALR/Troy winner, while the loser will be eliminated.

Louisiana, the seven-seed, fell in their regular season finale on Saturday, dropping a 90-49 decision to the Arkansas St. Red Wolves. The Cajuns finished the regular season with an overall record of 14-15, to go along with a Sun Belt Conference mark of 7-11 play.

That 7-11 league mark helped the Cajuns finish in a tie for seventh place in the league standings with ULM, seven games behind first-place Arkansas St.

WKU, the second-seed, finished the regular season at 21-8, overall, and 13-5 in league play. The Lady Toppers finished only one game behind Arkansas St. in the conference standings, and will come into the tournament riding a seven-game win streak.

Offensively, UL is currently seventh in the conference, scoring 64.4 points-per-game, while WKU ranks third, averaging 73.9  points a contest.

Defensively, the Cajuns rank third in the league, allowing  65.9 points-per-game, while the Lady Toppers are giving up 63.9 points a tilt, which is second in the conference.

Louisiana is led by sophomore guard Sylvana Okde and sophomore forward Brooklyn Arceneaux, who are both averaging 10.5 points-per-game, while WKU is paced by junior forward Chastity Gooch, who is averaging 17.9  points-per-game, along with a league-leading 8.8 rebounds a contest.

The Lady Toppers won both of the two match-ups between the two teams this season, defeating the Cajuns, 68-63, back on January 25 at the Cajundome, and 80-71 in Bowling Green, Kentucky last week.

WKU leads the all-time series, 39-2.

Tip-off time is scheduled for 6 o’clock.

You can hear all the play-by-play action on Sports Radio ESPN 1420 & espn1420.com, beginning with the pre-game show at 5:45.