Late Houston Rally Puts Away Louisiana Women’s Basketball 63-51

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team started well but lost to the Houston Cougars 63-51 after a late rally put them away.

Louisiana is now 6-2 this season. Each of their next four games are at home. They don't have another road game until 2022.

Houston's defense shut down the Cajuns early on in the game. Louisiana took only two shots in the first four minutes because they had five early turnovers. The Cougars had five points off of those turnovers and took an early 8-2 lead before head coach Garry Brodhead took a timeout.

A jumper by guard Destiny Rice was followed by a steal and layup by guard Makayia Hallmon to score four quick points and cut the lead to 8-6. Both teams started to heat up offensively. The Cajuns hit five of seven shots, but Houston kept pace. A half-court shot by guard Skyler Christmas that went in barely missed the buzzer, so the Cajuns trailed 18-14 at the end of one.

A jumper by Louisiana forward Ty'Reona Doucet and a three by Rice had the Cajuns within one point. Later in the second quarter, a layup by Hallmon tied the game at 23. It sparked a 6-0 run for Louisiana where they took a 27-23 lead.

The Cajuns entered halftime with a 29-26 lead. Their defense was excellent, and the Cajuns forced nine Houston turnovers while holding them to only eight points on 3-10 shooting in the second quarter. Rice was the leading scorer for Louisiana with 11 points. Hallmon added six before the break.

Houston hit three straight three-pointers during a 10-0 run to take a 38-31 lead. A four-minute scoreless drought by Louisiana had shifted all the momentum back to the Cougars in the third quarter.

The Cajuns fought back, but they were out-scored 16-8 in the third. Houston entered the fourth with a 42-37 lead.

Houston's lead stretched to nine points at 50-41. However, the Cajuns answered with five straight points. Forward Tamera Johnson's three-pointer made it 50-46 midway through the final quarter.

However, Houston put the game away with a 12-1 run late in the fourth quarter. They scored 10 straight points to get the lead to 63-49, the largest of the game. The Cajuns lost 63-51 to fall to 6-2 in 2021.

Up next, Louisiana comes home for four straight games starting with their Dec. 15 matchup against LSU-Shreveport in the annual Education Day Game at 11:00 a.m.