LAFAYETTE, La. - The fourth-seeded Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns hit eight of their first 12 shots from the floor to build a double-digit first-quarter lead and hold on for an 81-64 Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Tournament First Round victory over ninth-seeded and visiting Georgia Southern on Tuesday evening at the Cajundome in Lafayette, La.

The Eagles finish the 2019-20 season at 10-20 overall and 7-11 in the Sun Belt Conference, an improvement of five Sun Belt wins from a season ago under first-year head coach Anita Howard. Louisiana (18-12, 11-8 SBC) advances to the second round to face fifth-seeded Little Rock on Wednesday at the Cajundome.

Louisiana rode its hot-shooting start to a 27-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Ragin' Cajuns extended their lead to 19 in the second quarter and took a 16-point lead, 44-28, into halftime. 

The Eagles finished the third quarter on an 8-0 run to close the gap to 13, 61-48, heading into the fourth. Georgia Southern got as close as 10 points on four separate occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Ragin' Cajuns were able to close out the victory and move on in the tournament.

Hailey Dias-Allen led the Eagles on the evening with 14 points, while Ja'nya Love-Hill contributed 13 and Alexis Brown finished with 12. Jomyra Mathis led a quartet of Ragin' Cajuns in double figures with her game-high 18 points. Brandi Williams added 16 while Andrea Cournoyer had 11 and Skyler Goodwin chipped in 10.

Eagle of the Game 
Ja'nya Love-Hill registered her first career double digit scoring game for the Eagles with her 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Her previous scoring high was four points at UTA on Feb. 29.

Stat of the Game
Louisiana came in ranked 10th in the Sun Belt Conference in rebounding margin at -4.4, but the Ragin' Cajuns outrebounded the Eagles by eight, 39-31.

Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the effort of the Eagles tonight against the Ragin' Cajuns

"It just talks about how we display the will to win, but we've now got to figure out just how to win. But we are laying the foundation. We dug ourselves into a hole in the first quarter, but we didn't give up and I'm proud of that. We needed to win the rebounding war, and I think they kind of outhustled us a bit. We really focused on that coming in the game. 

On the end of her first season as head coach of the Eagles

"We've got xix seniors to send off, and those are going to be some huge shoes to fill. I think we did a great job getting here this year [to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament] and now we start to build towards being in this position every year of playing in the postseason."

Next Up
The Eagles lose the services of six seniors - Amira Atwater, Alexis Brown, Hailey Dias-Allen, Nakol Franks, Nikki McDonald and Victoria Stavropoulous - but return nine players for the 2020-21 season.