There was a lot to like about UL women’s 100-62 exhibition victory over LSU-Alexandria on Monday in the Cajundome.
For starters, the Ragin’ Cajuns scored 100 points despite missing 11 free throws and nearly 20 layups. It doesn’t count because it was an exhibition game, but the last time UL scored 100 points was a 101-55 win over LSU-Alexandria in the season opener in 2016.
With the Cajuns only shooting 43.8% from 3-point land, the primary reason for UL getting to 100 was pulling down 60 rebounds, including 35 offensive rebounding.
“What I liked was the rebounding,” UL coach Garry Brodhead said. “I thought we did a better job of rebounding, starting in the second quarter. We started kind of picking it up and stuff like that. It’s still work, man. We’ve got to keep on pushing.”
Leading the rebounding effort was newcomer Ndioba Lo with 15 points and 14 rebounds in 13 minutes.
“No, that’s not the biggest thing I can do on the floor, but I can help my teammate by rebounding,” Lo said. “It’s our job to make the rebound … I just have to be more focused on grabbing the ball with two hands.”
The native of Senegal, as Brodhead explained, played in Japan in high school and was much taller, so got used to tipping rebounds up in the air with one hand.
“We’re working on that,” Brodhead said.
The 6-foot-3 Lo, though, isn’t the only new size for the Cajuns. Aminata Sowe, also from Senegal, is 6-3 as well and Kayllis Walker from Laurel, Mississippi is 6-foot-2 and physical.
Sowe had 10 points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes, while Walker added 11 points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes.
The other good sign was at point guard. Unfortunately, Kennedi Johnson from Tyler Junior College suffered an ankle injury and didn’t finish the game, but showed excellent quickness.
Malaya Jones of Trinity Valley Community College ran the show efficiently and scored 10 points with four assists and three steals in 21 minutes.
“We always go out and try to play for each other,” Jones said. “That’s our main motivation. We’ve got to get better to show our crowd, our fans, that we’re going to be better this year.
“We’re still trying to build chemistry, and get the kinks out. I feel like offensively, we’ve just got to make the easy things, like our layups. We could have made more layups, made more free throws.”
Indeed, the Cajuns were just 12-of-23 shooting at the line.
Jones displayed both a traditional point guard mindset, but also looks to score when necessary.
“I know we definitely want to push a pace,” Jones explained. “We want to push it fast, get it down the court, find the best open pass, the best shot for us to get. I like to consider myself a scoring point guard, so if I can get to the paint or get to my open shot. They would like for me to do that, but they also want me to be able to facilitate the offense.”
Also reaching double figures was true freshman Bailey Timmons, who had 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two rebounds, an assist and two steals in 18 minutes.
“She’s so impressive,” Brodhead said of Timmons. “We scrimmaged the other day. and she was impressive. All summer, she’s been impressive. To me, she’s more consistent on the defensive side than I’ve seen a freshman in a long time.”
Jazmyne Jackson and Imani Daniel each added eight points with Daniel also adding six boards.
Not surprisingly, defense topped Brodhead’s to-do list during postgame conversations.
“I think we got to get better defensively,” Brodhead said. “We talk about the three positions. We need to be on the ball, on the line, and then help. Our help is getting better. When Imani Daniel is in there, our help is always going to be pretty good. We’ve got to get everybody else to buy into that as far as just playing together.”
