DENTON, Texas – The ULM women's basketball team shattered
its rebounding record and Kassie Courtney collected her first double-double of
the season in a 10-point come-from-behind 50-47 victory against Sun Belt Conference
rival North Texas Saturday evening in the Super Pit.
After the Mean Green extended its lead out to 47-40 off
an 11-4 run over seven minutes in the second half, ULM shut them down during
the final five minutes of the game as baskets by Sannisha Williams, Jasmine
Shaw and Priscilla Mbiandja tied the score 47-47 with 23 seconds to play.
Courtney was fouled twice and sank three free throws to give ULM a 50-47 lead before
holding onto the ball as the final seconds would down to clinch the win.
ULM (14-14, 8-7 SBC) collected 66 rebounds for the night the
re-break its rebounding record from earlier this season when it grabbed a
program-high 60 rebounds against Arkansas-Monticello Dec. 11.
Courtney scored 10 points on the strength of a 7-for-8
performance from the charity stripe while pulling down a career-high 13
rebounds for her second career double-double. Mbiandja led the
Warhawks in scoring with 12 points and collected eight rebounds while Williams fell just two rebounds shy of tying her career-high with a game-high
16 rebounds. Elizabeth Torres had a game-tying high three assists.
After ULM's Courtney sank two free throws to start the second
half the Warhawks hit a scoring drought to go 0-for-22 from the field over the
next five minutes while North Texas (5-21, 2-11 SBC) scored six points to take
a 36-26 lead with 14:51 to play.
Baskets finally started falling for the Warhawks when Marion
Zollicoffer made a jumper to spark an unanswered 10-0 run including
three-straight layups by Mbiandja to tie the game 36-36 with 11:53 to play.
ULM scored three-straight layups to start the first half
until North Texas found its stride with a 10-3 run including eight unanswered
points to take its first lead of the game 10-9 at the 13:33 mark.
The Warhawks reclaimed the lead with a Shaw layup to
start a back-and-forth battle that included eight lead changes and two ties
over the next 10 minutes of play.
Two free throws by Larrie Williams put ULM ahead at 24-23
with 1:47 remaining in the half before Tamara Torru sank a basket from downtown
followed by back-to-back layups by Kasondra Foreman to give the Mean Green a 30-24 lead
entering halftime.
The Warhawks struggled from the field during the first half
shooting just 24.0 percent compared to 40.0 by North Texas.
Denetra Kellum had the lone double-double for the Mean Green
as she scored a game-high 19 points while pulling down 12 rebounds. Torru also had 12 points while Ash'Lynne Evans grabbed 11 rebounds and Foreman
had three assists. As a team North Texas shot 30.4 percent from the field and
pulled down 41 rebounds to ULM's 66.
ULM will conclude its
regular season at home next Saturday when it hosts in-state Sun Belt Conference
rival UL-Lafayette at 4 p.m. in Fant-Ewing Coliseum before making the trek to
the Sun Belt Conference Tournament the following weekend.
