Lady Indians lose in SBC semifinals to Louisiana-Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, La. --- ASU head coach Brian Boyer has said that it is hard to beat a team three times in one season.

While the Lady Indians had defeated Louisiana-Lafayette twice during the regular season, the third meeting between the two teams came in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Cajundome. The UL-Lafayette women's basketball team plays their home games at the Earl K. Long Gym and had not played at the Cajundome once this season. On Monday afternoon, the Lady Ragin' Cajuns knocked ASU out of the SBC Tournament 62-59. UL-Lafayette will play Middle Tennessee in the SBC Tournament championship at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

"The past two games with Louisiana-Lafayette have had a lot of similarities," Boyer said. "It was a very competitive game. It was a tale of two halves."

Senior guard Rudy Sims tied it at 59-59 with 20 seconds left but could not hit her free throw. After the Sims missed foul shot, UL-Lafayette center Sonora Edwards made the game-winning shot for the Lady Ragin' Cajuns with six seconds left and was fouled by senior guard Ali Carter.

With the loss, ASU (20-12, 11-7 SBC West) bows out of the SBC Tournament semifinals for the third consecutive season. However, for the Lady Indians, the season may not be over. In two out of the last three seasons, ASU has been invited to the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). The 2004 club won 19 games while the 2005 club also had 19 wins coming into the WNIT. This season, the Lady Indians have won 20 games, the most wins in the regular season and conference tournament combined for the program since the 1997-1998 season when that team also won 20 games.

The senior class for ASU, Carter, Sims, center Adrianne Davie, and forward Tabitha Christian, have been to the WNIT twice. They've also played a tough non-conference schedule this season, which includes wins against Alabama, Oklahoma State, and South Dakota State. SDSU is just one of three teams to defeat nationally-ranked Middle Tennessee this season. For Carter, she is not ready to go home yet.

"We're always ready," Carter said. "We hope we get that chance. Hopefully we'll get another game and keep playing for a while."

ASU had an excellent start, jumping out to a 19-10 lead in the first ten minutes. But the Lady Ragin' Cajuns took the lead late in the first half 25-23. In the first two meetings between the Lady Indians and UL-Lafayette, the Lady Ragin' Cajuns led at halftime both times. The semifinal matchup in the SBC Tournament was more of the same, as UL-Lafayette led 31-26 at halftime. A problem that has plagued ASU in the last couple of weeks has been allowing their opponents to grab rebounds on the offensive glass. In the first half, UL-Lafayette outrebounded ASU 32-17, with 19 of those 32 rebounds coming on the offensive glass.

UL-Lafayette led by as many as nine points a few times in the second half, but could not increase their lead above nine. The play of freshman guard Veronica Smith was stellar once again for the Lady Indians. Smith scored a career-high 13 points and recorded three assists. She also had five rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Next season, the Lady Indians will count on Smith to provide them with the effort that she has given throughout this year's SBC Tournament. "She's played very, very well," Boyer said. "We've seen this coming all along. She's fearless on the offensive end. She's the type of player that we don't have many of. She can go create things on her own when she gets that opportunity. She's done a good job in this tournament of finding Adrianne, taking and reading the defense. She was making great decisions when she had the ball."

In the end, though, UL-Lafayette showed why they were the SBC West champions and not ASU. Although the Lady Indians defeated UL-Lafayette twice this season, the Lady Ragin' Cajuns (25-7, 14-4 SBC West) finished three games ahead of ASU in the SBC West standings.

ASU had hit three 3-pointers early in the first half, but struggled for the rest of the contest from three-point range, making just five of 17 attempts from beyond the arc. In the contest, ASU shot 46.3 percent (25-for-54). The Lady Indians held UL-Lafayette to 35.3 percent from the field (24-for-68).

Sims led ASU in the loss with 18 points. Davie scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. Sophomore Caroline Starr added seven points.

Boyer and his players will wait to hear whether they will be invited to the WNIT. The pairings for the WNIT will be announced next week.

For more on the SBC Tournament, please visit the ASU Herald Blog at asuheraldblog.blogspot.com and The Herald's Web site at asuherald.com.