Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. - UL-Lafayette built an 18-point first half lead and then held off a furious Louisiana Tech rally as the Ragin' Cajuns defeated the Lady Techsters 58-55 before 487 fans at Earl K. Long Gym Saturday afternoon.

Tech fought all the way back from the deficit and tied the game with 3:15 to play on a three-pointer by Chrisstasia Walter. However, a couple of costly turnovers down the stretch cost Tech as the Ragin' Cajuns pulled off their first win in program history against LA Tech.

"Every team in Louisiana wants to beat us," said LA Tech coach Tyler Summitt. "Obviously this program never had. All the credit goes to UL-Lafayette, their players and their staff. They played hard all game. To be honest, they just wanted it more and that is unacceptable. I take the blame for us not playing hard for 40 minutes. We have to figure out a way to do that."

For the third straight game, the Lady Techsters (1-2) started slow and found themselves trailing by double digits in the opening 20 minutes of play. And for the second time in three games, Louisiana Tech wasn't able to dig itself out of the hole.

With Tech struggling to solve the Ragin' Cajuns zone, UL-Lafayette took advantage as it scored in transition, off the dribble and from beyond the arc. A Jaylyn Gordon layup with 2:15 to play in the first half gave UL-Lafayette (3-0) a 32-14 advantage.

"People are packing it in on us and if I was playing us, I would do the same thing with the way we are shooting it right now," Summitt said. "We shoot well in practice; we get it inside in practice. Then we come out here in game and we act like we have never seen a 2-3 zone before. It takes us 20 minutes to get used to seeing a 2-3 and then we start to attack.

"When we did attack, good things started happening. We have to find a way to get inside that zone, and not just go from the wing to the top to the wing to the top and then shoot a three. We have to find even more ways to get Whitney Frazier the ball. I thought we did a better job, but not good enough."

Tech hit just 8-of-26 field goals in the opening half while watching UL-Lafayette hit 14-of-29 shots from the field. The shooting discrepancy resulted in a 32-19 halftime advantage for the Ragin' Cajuns.

"Our staff will look real hard on what we can do to get off to a better start," Summitt said. "It really boils down to our players wanting it. It boils down to our players understanding we can beat any team we play if we play hard. So that will be the message. We have a long week to get better. Hopefully we make a lot of improvement.

"We are preaching to the team to attack. You look at fouls and free throws over the last two games and it is one-sided. You can't just look at the refs. You have to look at what we are doing. Are we attacking? Are we penetrating gaps? We have to get better against zone and play more consistently."

The final 20 minutes saw a different level of effort from LA Tech. Utilizing a full-court press for the second half, Tech slowly started to whittle away at the ULL lead. Kanedria Andrews, who finished the game with a career-high 14 points, hit a three-pointer to open the second half and when Frazier hit a layup with 12:38 to play in the game, Tech trailed 39-36.

Trailing 41-39 with less than two minutes to play, Tech saw ULL used a 7-0 run over a two-minute span to push the advantage back to 48-39. Andrews answered with a three-pointer - one of her four in the game - and Walter and JaQuan Jackson each connected on three-pointers as Tech pulled to within 50-48 at the 4:50 mark of the game.

After Walter tied the game at 53-53, Tech missed a chance to take its first lead of the game as a Frazier 10-foot jumper in the lane missed its mark. ULL scored five straight points to lead 58-53 but Tech had two final opportunities to tie the game.

However, Tech committed a turnover on an inbounds play with 14 seconds to play and then Walter came up just short on a last second off-balance three-pointer as ULL pulled off the win.

"We have a lot to work on," Summitt said. "I promise the LA Tech fans and family that we will be working hard to improve and get better than this."

Andrews led Tech with 14 points while Jackson added 12 points and Frazier 10 points. Walter finished with eight points, a career-high 13 rebounds and six steals.

Kia Wilridge led ULL with 18 points while Gordon added 15 points.

Tech shot 38 percent (21-55) for the game, including 8-of-25 from the three-point line. Tech was only 5-of-6 at the free throw line. ULL shot 48 percent (23-47) from the field, including 4-of-9 from the three-point line and 8-of-20 from the free throw line.

The Lady Techsters return to action Saturday when they travel to face Alabama A&M in Huntsville, Alabama at 2 p.m.