NEW ORLEANS -- The UALR Trojans women's basketball team relied on one of the nation's top defenses to roll to the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title.
But Saturday night in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals, Louisiana-Lafayette repeatedly dissected the University of Arkansas at Little Rock defense in a 79-71 victory at Lakefront Arena.
The fifth-seeded Ragin' Cajuns (20-10) scored 58 points in the paint -- four more than UALR's ninth-ranked scoring defense was giving heading into the game -- to advance to the championship game against the winner of Saturday's late game between No. 2 Texas-Arlington and No. 3 Troy.
"Our team played our game plan down to perfection," Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Garry Brodhead said.
The Trojans (24-8) lost for the second time in 20 games against Sun Belt opponents this season.
"Our defense has been hot and cold," Trojans Coach Joe Foley said. "We play a lot of freshmen and sophomores that don't know the rules well enough to get in help position. They exploited that extremely well.
"On defense you have to have all five working together and we were kind of going one on one and we didn't get the help we needed."
Jaylyn Gordon led Louisiana-Lafayette with 21 points, Simone Fields scored 16 points, Jasmine Thomas had 14 and Nekia Jones 11.
Fields had 10 of her points in the second half, making 4 of 6 shots.
"We knew they played (defense) from behind and that's good for me because I can score easily with my back to the basket," Fields said, "so that helped us a lot on offense."
Thomas had 12 of her points in the second half, making 5 of 6 shots, all after UALR's Monique Townsend committed her third foul midway through the third quarter.
"I was just trying to attack her and beat her to the lane," Thomas said. "I was going past her and got screens, so I just tried to get inside and do whatever I could."
Sharde' Collins led UALR with 27 points, Ronjanae DeGray had 16 and Townson 12. The Trojans players were unavailable for comment after the game.
UALR twice made runs to the lead -- opening a 10-point advantage in the second quarter and a seven-point lead in the third -- but both times Louisiana-Lafayette used a series of layups to turn the game around.
The score was tied three times in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans couldn't match the Cajuns' scoring pace.
Gordon scored on a driving layup to break the final tie with 4:12 remaining and Fields extended the lead with a jumper -- the only basket from the outside that Louisiana-Lafayette needed in the second half.
UALR twice got within two points, but it could never get a stop that would have given it a chance to pull even.
"Their guards did a good job of attacking the whole game," Foley said.
The Cajuns shot 55 percent for the game and made all 14 of their free throws.
"The free throws were huge," Brodhead said.
The Trojans scored 11 consecutive points early in the third quarter to turn a four-point deficit into a 49-42 lead just before a timeout was called.
"The whole timeout was about us getting back to what we planned on doing," Brodhead said. "It worked out really well because our kids focused again."
The Cajuns outscored the Trojans 10-0 on five layups. DeGray's free throw ended the run before Gordon converted a three-point play on a drive, giving Louisiana-Lafayette a 55-50 lead after three quarters.
UALR outscored Louisiana-Lafayette 11-4 to start the fourth quarter, a run that ended with Collins making a three-pointer that gave the Trojans a 61-59 lead.
But their defense never came around.
UALR, the regular-season champion, is guaranteed at least a bid to the WNIT, but the dream of a trip to the NCAA tournament seemingly ended Saturday even though the Trojans entered the week ranked No. 45 in the NCAA's most recent RPI rankings.
The Ratings Percentage Index is a scale used by the NCAA Selection Committee to rank Division I basketball teams by their performance in light of strength of schedule. Low RPI ranking numbers denote strong teams; and high numbers, weaker ones.
The 64-team field for the Women's NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday, but the Trojans, without a victory over a top-50 team, are not likely to be inclucded.
"We'll wait and see where they send us," Foley said. "Wherever it is we'll go and enjoy it. If we're still playing three weeks from now that'll be a lot of fun."
Sports on 03/12/2017