MONROE, La.?ULM wrapped a 14-0 run around halftime en
route to a 59-46 victory over visiting Centenary Tuesday night in Fant-Ewing
Coliseum.
The
Warhawks (2-0) have now won 11 straight non-conference games dating back to the
second game of the season last year at Arkansas.
LaJeanna
Howard led ULM
with 12 points and Shannon Lloyd added 11, as 12 players saw action in the game
for the Warhawks and eight found the score column on the box score.
"Our defensive intensity was unbelievable and that is what won the game for us," ULM head coach Mona Martin said. "We are going to have to get better on the offensive end of the court though. We can't afford to miss some of the shots we did tonight and expect to win to many games. Centenary is a very good team and gave Mississippi State a great game on Sunday and gave us a great challenge tonight."
ULM's defense once again proved to be
the difference forcing 34 Centenary (0-2) turnovers with 18 coming on Warhawk steals. Regena Jackson led ULM with five steals; she also added eight
points and four rebounds, while Lottie Moore and Howard each had three.
In their
season-opening victory over McNeese
State, the Warhawks
forced 22 turnovers and held the Cowgirls to 26.4 percent shooting.
The
Warhawks have allowed their first two opponents to average just 43.0 points and
shoot just 33.7 percent from the floor.
"Our preseason conditioning has a lot to do with what we've been able to accomplish defensively so far this season," Martin said. "We played 12 kids tonight and when they know that playing defense equals playing time, it picks them up in practices and on game day."
Anne Farrell was the only Centenary player in double figures with 12 points. Cierra Bush and Leslie Forest
posted a game-high nine rebounds.
ULM dominated
all of the specialty stats, outscoring Centenary 30-22 in the point, 31-5 off
turnovers, 24-0 on second chance points, 8-0 on fast break points and 24-11 on
bench points.
The
Warhawks led by as many as 19 points in the second half after staking a 15
point advantage just three minutes into the final period. Centenary cut a once 16-point ULM lead down to 12 with
just over 10 minutes left, but the Warhawks quickly extended it out to 19 with
a 9-2 run.
Seven
rebounds from both Moore and Shannon Lloyd gave ULM a slight 44-43 advantage on the glass,
but the big difference in the rebounding numbers was on the offensive end of
the court. The Warhawks pulled down 25
offensive rebounds and limited the Ladies to just 10. ULM
has a plus 24 margin on the offensive glass through its first two games of the
season.
Both teams
suffered to get into a rhythm in the opening twenty minutes, but they each ran
into different problems. The Warhawks
were able to get shots off, but couldn't find the bottom of the net shooting 24.3
percent (9-of-37), while Centenary couldn't get a shot off turning the ball
over 23 times.
The Ladies
only attempted 18 shots in the opening half compared to 37 for ULM, and tried
just two three pointers compared to 14 by the Warhawks.
ULM opened the game missing its first five shot attempts before
Moore connected
on a jumper at the 15 minute mark. The
Warhawks responded with a 9-0 run over the next three and a half minutes
hitting five-of-eight from the floor grabbing a 12-7 advantage.
Neither
team could gain control of momentum over the rest of the half and the Warhawks
went into intermission with a 22-17 lead.
The
Warhawks wrap up their three game homestand to open the season Friday night
against Texas State at 7:00 pm in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
