STATESBORO, Ga. – Kia Wilridge recorded 17 points, four rebounds and two steals, and UL Lafayette outscored Georgia Southern 15-0 over the last 5:27 of the game to post a 56-39 Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball victory over the Eagles Thursday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Alexis Sams shot 5 of 7 from the floor and scored 12 points to lead Georgia Southern (4-10, 1-4) and Sierra Butler registered nine points and seven rebounds. 

Jaylyn Gordon collected 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for UL Lafayette (11-3, 4-1), which shot 61 percent in the second half and hit nine of its last 12 shots of the game. The Ragin' Cajuns scored 18 points off 16 Georgia Southern turnovers. 

Georgia Southern held UL Lafayette to 33 percent shooting in the first half and 2 of 10 from 3-point range for the contest. The Eagles trailed by just one point with seven minutes to play, but the Ragin' Cajuns scored 18 of the last 20 points of the game.

THE STORY
The Eagles opened the game with a 12-2 run, capped by seven points from Sierra Butler. UL Lafayette started the game by making just 3 of their first 15 shots, while the Eagles shot 7 of 14. Trailing by seven, the Ragin' Cajuns outscored Georgia Southern 15-5 in the second quarter to open a 25-22 lead at halftime. 

UL Lafayette led throughout the third quarter and was ahead by six points, when Sams canned a 40-foot 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded, cutting the margin to three heading into the fourth frame.

The Eagles trailed 38-37 early in the fourth period, but the Ragin' Cajuns used a 12-2 run, keyed by seven points from Wilridge, to pull away late. Georgia Southern went 0 for 4 from the field and had four consecutive turnovers during the stretch.

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"I thought we were aggressive, and I thought we attacked early but I think the big thing is we got some stops and we didn't necessarily have to go against that pressure. Then we quit rebounding. They had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, and there were two or three shot opportunities and then they would stick it back. And now, all of a sudden, instead of being able to go out running in transition, we're having to go 94 feet against that pressure, and we didn't handle it very well."

"To beat them you have to step up and do it, and we didn't do that, and they kind of pulled away at the end. I think people are going to look at the score, and it's not going to be quite as indicative of the closeness of the game for about 37 minutes. It kind of got away a little bit at the end there. I think there were a couple shots, if they had gone, it may have given us a little bit more momentum and helped us out a little bit."  

"We had a couple turnovers. When you get down sometimes two and a half minutes doesn't seem like very long, it's only a three possession game, there wasn't a whole lot of time left. I thought we had to force a couple things, and we had a couple turnovers off dribbles. I think we got a little antsy, maybe. I understand that they wanted to be aggressive, they wanted to make something happen, it just didn't happen for us at that point in time."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern caps its four-game homestand with a 2:30 p.m. contest against ULM Saturday in Hanner Fieldhouse. It's Dads and Daughters Day – A special day for Dads and Daughters to celebrate together, and the GoDaddy Bowl Championship trophy will be on display during the contest.

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