LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – After trailing by two 63-61 with 15
seconds left to play the ULM women's basketball team was unable to catch UALR Wednesday
evening in the Jack Stephens Center, falling 67-61 to lose its second-straight
Sun Belt Conference game.
Two scoreless stretches of three and four minutes in the
second half by both teams ultimately sealed the Warhawks' fate after falling
behind early in the first half. ULM came within four points of the Trojans four separate
times during the second half but never was able to retake the lead.
After being down 62-53 with just 47 seconds remaining, ULM put together
an 8-1 run including a layup by Kassie Courtney at the 15-second mark to put the Warhawks
within just one basket of forcing overtime. UALR went 4-of-4 on its final free
throw shots to end the game with a 67-61 win.
Junior center Larrie Williams came up with a career-high 16 points and 15 rebounds for the Warhawks for her third
double-double of the season and the 12th of her career after going 6-for-12 from the field. Junior guard Elizabeth Torres also tallied
double-digits for the second consecutive game with 11 points while dishing out six assists. Courtney also contributed 10 points for ULM, which
shot 42.3 percent as a team.
ULM (8-9, 2-2 SBC) again held the advantage in rebounds
grabbing 41 to UALR's 34 including 31 defensive rebounds to 23 -- the Warhawks
rank eighth in the nation in rebounding margin with a +10.8 margin per game.
Torres and Williams each made layups to give ULM a
4-0 start before UALR (10-5, 4-0 SBC) used an 11-1 spree to grab a quick 11-5
lead with 13:48 to play. The Trojans slowly built to their biggest lead of the
half 27-16 at the 5:17 mark with a 16-1 run on the strength of 10 points by
Chastity Reed.
The Warhawks did not give up easily and trailed by just four
at the break 33-29 despite being down by 10 points with 1:49 to play. Torres
and Priscilla Mbiandja put down back-to-back 3-pointers within 29 seconds of
one another to cap a 13-6 streak by ULM and quickly make it a four point game
at halftime.
A fast layup by Mbiandja at the start of the second half gave
ULM its lowest deficit of the game to overcome 33-31 before each team began a
defensive battle including a three-minute scoreless drought ended by two free
throws by Sannisha Williams.
Reed was the offensive power behind UALR's win,
scoring 34 of the team's 67 points for the evening. Shanika Butler added eight points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Asriel Rolfe led the Trojans with 10 assists.
ULM concludes a two-game road trip Saturday when it travels to Mobile, Ala. to take on South Alabama at 5 p.m. in the
Mitchell Center.
