JONESBORO, Ark. ? Sophomore Regena Jackson scored a team-high 11 points coming off the bench, but the ULM women couldn't overcome a cold shooting half in a 68-53 loss at Arkansas State on Thursday night.
After hitting on better than 50 percent of its shots in the opening period, ULM struggled from the field in the second. The Warhawks hit on 7-of-35 shots after the intermission to fall to 33.3 percent shooting for the game.
Arkansas State, on the other hand, couldn't miss. ASU finished the game hitting on 49 percent of its shots and banked a pair in as the shot clock expired.
“We shot the ball very poorly again tonight,” ULM head coach Mona Martin said. “Arkansas State hit some shots when they needed to and were able to bank a couple in at the end of the shot clock that really hurt. We didn't play really smart defensively and it cost us tonight.”
ULM (17-11, 10-7 Sun Belt) jumped out to an early 9-2 lead after pounding the ball down low to senior Shannon Lloyd and junior Lottie Moore. Arkansas State (18-11, 13-5 Sun Belt) would quickly answer and by the 14:21 mark had rattled off seven straight points to tie the game.
The Warhawks pulled ahead and would maintain the lead until the 5:25 mark of the opening period. Jazmine Taylor hit a trey from the wing to give ASU a lead it would hold for the remainder of the game.
Arkansas State ended the half on a 12-4 run to take a 39-30 advantage into the intermission.
ASU hit on back-to-back buckets to open the second half and push their advantage over double digits. Sophomore Jesse Carrier would hit a trey to pull the Warhawks to within seven points at 45-38 before the shooting woes took hold of the ULM offense.
Arkansas State used the cold shooting of the Warhawks to build a lead of as many as 18 points in the second half before coasting to the final 68-53 win.
Lloyd finished with 10 points and seven rebounds to join Jackson as the Warhawks only double-digit point producers. For ASU, five players finished with 10 or more points led by a game-high 13 points from Veronica Smith.
The loss, coupled with a win by UALR over Denver, ended ULM's chances at claiming the West Division Championship and opening round bye. The Warhawks will be hosting a first round game at Fant-Ewing Coliseum on March 5.
ULM closes the regular season portion of the 2007-08 schedule at home on March 1 when it hosts divisional-leader UALR at 5:30 p.m. The Warhawks will honor five seniors in a ceremony at the half of the men's game.
