NEW ORLEANS –  Despite a program single-game record-tying seven 3-pointers from Toshua Leavitt, Texas State was unable to rally from Louisiana's game-changing 21-4 run in the third quarter as the fifth-seeded Ragin' Cajuns downed the fourth-seeded Bobcats 66-64 in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Championship on Thursday afternoon.
 
Kaitlin Walla tied the game at 64-64 with four second to play on a 3-pointer from the left wing; however, Louisiana's Simone Fields found room inside and banked in the game-winning shot from three feet away with two seconds showing on the clock.
 
Texas State falls to 16-14 overall with the loss, while Louisiana improves to 19-10 and advances to the tournament's semifinal round against top-seeded Little Rock on Saturday.
 
Leavitt led all scorers with her 21 points – all in the first half – on her seven 3-pointers, which equaled the effort of former Bobcats Sarah Wagner (Dec. 3, 1996 vs. Texas Southern) and Chris Ferrell (Feb. 3, 1990 vs. Sam Houston State) for the best in Texas State history and was one shy of tying Sun Belt Championship record of eight (Leslie Logsdon of Western Kentucky vs. Middle Tennessee State in 2003).
 
Joining Leavitt in double-figures were Amber Jones and Erin Peoples with 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Bobcats closed the game shooting 45.5 percent (25 of 55) from the field and 51.1 percent (8 of 14) from deep.
 
Four Ragin' Cajuns scored in double-figures, led by Jaylyn Gordon's 17. Jasmin Thomas scored 15, while Nekia Jones and Kimberly Burton added 11 each. Louisiana closed the contest shooting 403 percent (25 of 62) and outscored the Bobcats 38-22 in the paint.
 
Leavitt knocked down four 3-pointers and the Bobcat defense held Louisiana scoreless for nearly five minutes en route to a 20-12 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Bobcats built their lead via a 10-0 run that featured back-to-back triples from Leavitt and scores inside by Peoples and Taeler Deer.
 
The Bobcats opened a 10-point lead on Whitney Apari's bucket to start the second quarter, but Louisiana countered with an 8-3 run to trim the TXST lead to 25-20 at the 5:45 mark. Jones then scored twice in the paint and Leavitt counted her sixth triple of the first half to stretch the lead back to 10. The Ragin' Cajuns rallied to cut the TXST's advantage to six on Burton's layup with 21 second to play before the half. However, Leavitt answered with her school-record tying seventh 3-pointer as time expired, sending the Bobcats into the half ahead 38-29.
 
Kaitlin Walla and Peoples started the second half with six straight points for the Bobcats; however, four free throws, a 3-pointer by Thomas along with buckets by Gordon and Burton quickly trimmed Texas State's once 15-point lead to 44-40 at the 4:12 mark of the third quarter.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns tied the game at 46 less two minutes later as Troi Swain scored after stealing a Texas State inbound pass. Fields put Louisiana up 48-46 with two at the free-throw line and Thomas made it 50-46 with layup. Jones scored the final bucket of the half, but not before the Ragin' Cajuns had outscored the Bobcats 21-4 over the previous 7:45 to take a 50-48 lead after three quarters.
 
Louisiana opened up as much as a five-point lead in the early stages of the fourth quarter before Texas State rallied to take a 61-60 lead on a Peoples layup with 4:32 to play. Two minutes later Thomas put the Ragin' Cajuns up 62-61 with a layup and Gordon made it a 3-point game with 12 seconds to go, setting up Walla and Fields' final shots.



• Texas State awaits its postseason fate, which will be announced in the coming days.

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