Second half pushes Lady Bengals past Delgado in Saturday action
The LSU Eunice women's basketball team came away with a 54-43 Miss-Lou Conference win on Saturday afternoon against visiting Delgado Community College to keep pace at the top of the conference standings.
The Lady Bengals finished the afternoon shooting just 33 percent (17-of-51) from the floor, but used their defense and a 10-4 scoring run midway through the second half to come away with the win.
Trailing by two at the break after a back-and-forth first half that saw each team come away with seemingly one shot attempt each offensive possession and neither team break 20 points at the half, the Lady Bengals went on a 10-4 run sparked by a technical foul given to Delgado head coach Edward Fields with 14 minutes left to play.
Following the LSU Eunice run, Delgado cut the lead down to four points before the Lady Bengals answered with a 6-2 run to give themselves some cushion before the teams traded buckets over the final five minutes.
LSU Eunice capitalized from the free throw line, knocking home shots at a 64 percent (16-25) rate despite the poor shooting night from the floor. They hit just two three-point attempts (2-1, 18 percent) as well.
"In the beginning of the game we came out very flat. Our shots weren't falling so we stopped going to the basket and started taking a lot of jump shots. Delgado was actually getting to the basket pretty good, they were able to eat through our defense a little bit," head coach Yolanda Moore said.
"The second half we were able to tighten up our defense and keep them out of the paint, we did a better job of boxing out and allowing one-shot opportunities and we were able to get to the free throw line."
Meghan Cross finished with a game-high 19 points and a double-double, tallying 14 points in the second half – including shooting 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the final stanza. She added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double, also filling the stat sheet with two blocks, a steal and an assist.
Brooke Richard was the only other Lady Bengal to finish in double-figures, collecting eight second half points on her way to 10 total points to go with her three rebounds, two steals and assist.
Kelsey Thibodeaux tallied eight points off the bench, grabbing three rebounds, while Taylor Holzmeier added six points of her own off the bench.
Taylor Maricle, Ashlyn Wiemann and Baylie Lee all finished with three points, as Taylor Maricle collected five steals, three rebounds and an assist, while Lee and Wiemann each grabbed three rebounds.
Reagan Maricle tallied just two points to round out the scoring output, but she passed out 10 assists to her teammates while running the offense, adding four rebounds, a block and a steal in the win.
The LSU Eunice victory on Saturday sets up a showdown on Wednesday night as the Lady Bengals welcome Baton Rouge Community College to town. Both teams entered Saturday's play tied for the Miss-Lou Conference lead, with their season series currently sitting at 1-1 after each team has previously one on their own home floor.
"Baton Rouge is very tough and they are going to come in here with a mindset to win. We have to come out and stick to our game plan. I don't think we did that a couple of weeks ago. Our team understands what this means and what's at stake. It's going to be a great night for women's basketball," Moore said.
Wednesday night's game will also be Sophomore Night inside the HPRE Center, as the Lady Bengals celebrate the careers of their seven sophomore players.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday with pregame festivities slated to begin around 5:55 p.m. Wednesday's game can be seen on Bengal All-Access and heard on KVPI 92.5 FM.
