Mikaylah Manley Scores Career-High 32 as UL Women Stun Georgia State in Sun Belt Tournament

PENSACOLA, Fla. (103.3 The GOAT) — Mikaylah Manley refused to let the Ragin’ Cajuns go home quietly.

The Southern Miss transfer put together the best performance of her collegiate career Tuesday afternoon at the Pensacola Bay Center, scoring a career-high 32 points to lead Louisiana past No. 11-seeded Georgia State, 71-66, in the opening round of the 2026 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship.

It wasn’t pretty early. Georgia State jumped on the 14th-seeded Cajuns from the opening tip, racing out to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter and pushing the advantage to 13 points — 22-9 — inside the first minute of the second period. Louisiana trailed 34-28 at the half and held the lead for less than eight total minutes during the entire game.

Then Manley took over.

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Manley’s Career Night Rewrites the Story

Manley, who entered Tuesday averaging 12.7 points per game on the season, was a different player in the second half. She scored nine points in the third quarter as the Cajuns chopped the deficit to 48-46, then erupted for 14 in the fourth to put the game away.

Her go-ahead free throws with 3:52 left broke a 59-all tie and gave Louisiana a lead it would not relinquish. When Georgia State pulled within three, 63-66, with 31 seconds remaining, Manley stepped to the line and calmly knocked down four more free throws to ice it — finishing 11-of-12 from the stripe on the night.

The 32-point output topped Manley’s previous career high and came on 9-of-23 shooting from the floor with three triples and a dominant 11-of-12 effort at the foul line. She also hauled in nine rebounds and dished three assists in 40 minutes.

Kahlen Norris added 13 points and Imani Daniel chipped in 10 for Louisiana, which entered the tournament as the last team in the bracket after a 5-25 regular season.

Cajuns Avenge Regular-Season Finale Loss

The win carried extra satisfaction for a Cajuns program that lost to these same Georgia State Panthers just four days earlier. According to The Advocate, Georgia State beat Louisiana 74-68 in the regular-season finale on Feb. 27 in Atlanta, with the Panthers making 11 three-pointers to only four for UL and forcing the Cajuns into 23 turnovers.

Tuesday’s rematch looked headed for the same result through three quarters. Georgia State built its 13-point lead in the second quarter and held a two-point edge entering the final 10 minutes. The Panthers shot 35.3% from the floor for the game but kept themselves in front through three quarters on the strength of Kaleigh Addie’s 3-pointer that tied the game at 59 with 4:39 remaining.

That was the last time it was tied. Manley answered with go-ahead free throws, Kahlen Norris drained a corner three with two minutes left to push the lead to five, and Manley capped the win with four more free throws in the final 13 seconds.

How the Cajuns Won the Stat Sheet Where It Mattered

The box score tells the story of a team that won through toughness rather than polish. Louisiana converted 20 second-chance points on 11-of-15 shooting after offensive rebounds, outpacing Georgia State’s six second-chance points. The Cajuns also scored 16 fast-break points to GSU’s 12 and committed just 17 turnovers to the Panthers’ 15 — a marked improvement over the 23-turnover effort in last Friday’s loss.

Amijah Price’s 10 rebounds and steady presence gave Louisiana a rebounding edge (45-37) that proved decisive. Lily Ba’s 3-pointer in the fourth quarter started the decisive 8-0 run that gave UL its biggest lead of the game, seven points, with 1:40 remaining.

Georgia State’s Crystal Henderson led all scorers for the Panthers with 22 points but shot 8-of-20 from the floor. Ari Dyson added 11 and Addie finished with eight, including the tying three in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Cajuns surge.

What’s Next: UL vs. ULM on Wednesday

The win sends Louisiana into the second round, where the Cajuns face No. 10-seeded UL Monroe on Wednesday at 2 p.m. CT. The game streams on ESPN+ and can be heard locally on 103.3 The Goat and the Varsity Network app.

According to the Sun Belt bracket, ULM earned the No. 10 seed heading into Pensacola. The Warhawks and Cajuns know each other well — they played twice in the regular season, and Louisiana will be looking to extend its tournament run against another in-state rival.

The win also marked the 16th Sun Belt Tournament victory for head coach Garry Brodhead, who has built a program that can compete on the sport’s biggest stages even through a difficult regular season.