UL Lafayette Races Past Women’s Basketball

Saturday, February 28

Lafayette, La.

6 p.m.

Georgia Southern University

4-23, 1-17SBC

UL Lafayette

18-9,10-8SBC

Georgia Southern

UL Lafayette

Sierra Kirkland tallied six points and five rebounds.

2/28/2015 8:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Eagles play home finale Thursday at 5 p.m. in Hanner

By: Marc Gignac

LAFAYETTE, La. – Keke Veal scored 20 points, and UL Lafayette forced 29 turnovers to run by Georgia Southern for a 62-35 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory Saturday afternoon in the Cajundome.

Sierra Kirkland, Angel McGowan and Patrice Butler each scored six points for Georgia Southern (4-23, 1-17), and Butler added a team-high seven rebounds. The Eagles had 29 turnovers, which the Ragin' Cajuns turned into 26 points, and the miscues helped lead to 14 UL Lafayette fast-break points.

Veal was 7-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe for the Ragin' Cajuns (18-9, 10-8), and Kia Wilridge netted 12 points. Despite the easy baskets allowed off the turnovers, the Eagles held UL Lafayette to 40 percent shooting for the game.

Georgia Southern shot 37 percent from the floor and missed all nine 3-pointers. It was the first time the Eagles failed to make a 3-pointer in a game since November 17, 2011, when they went 0-for-2 against Mercer.

Leading 29-20 at the half, the Ragin' Cajuns went on a 15-4 run to start the second period and open a 44-24 lead. Veal netted six points during the stretch, and a Robbie Brown triple capped it with 14:31 left. The margin grew to as many as 59-30 on a long 3-pointer by Jaylyn Gordon with 4:41 to play.

UL Lafayette led 8-6 early in the game and used a 10-2 spurt, keyed by five points from Veal, to take an 18-8 cushion. Four different Eagles scored in an 8-4 Georgia Southern run that trimmed the margin to 24-18, and the UL Lafayette went into the locker room with a 29-20 advantage.

The Eagles play their home finale Thursday at 5 p.m. against UT Arlington in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.