MONROE, La. – Sharnice Brooks could not be stopped as the senior notched her third double-double of the season with a career-high 33 points and 11 boards to will the ULM women's basketball team to a thrilling 90-84 overtime victory against Texas State Saturday afternoon on Senior Day in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Brooks sank 10 of her 19 field goal attempts and went 13-for-15 from the charity stripe on her way to her game-high points total, which is the first time a Warhawk has scored more than 30 points since Ashleigh Simmons had 34 points over Ole Miss on Nov. 26, 2013. Brooks also added three assists and three blocks in 37 minutes.
”I'm glad that we went out with a bang,” said Brooks. “Even though it went into overtime, I'm happy we were able to work together to win the game.”
With the victory, ULM finished out the year 12-17 overall and 8-12 in conference; both totals are the most since 2011-12.
“A lot of great efforts all the way around,” said head coach Jeff Dow. “I'm thrilled for our seniors to go out like that. I wasn't surprised that we came back and competed like we did. I'm happy for those kids to experience the euphoria they had just now.”
ULM has now won six of the last seven contests against Texas State (16-13, 11-9).
Three other Warhawks scored in double-figures as Jade Wharton had 15, Alayshia Hunter had 11 and Chelsea Tieuel tied a career-high of 15.
Ayriel Anderson had 21 points and three rebounds to lead the Bobcats.
Texas State started off the scoring for the afternoon with a triple, but the Warhawks responded as Brooks hit back-to-back buckets for a 4-3 ULM advantage with 18:05 left in the first half.
The lead changed five more times before the Bobcats went on a run to take a 27-11 lead before Brooks cut off the scoring with another bucket. This basket sparked a 12-0 stretch for the home team as they cut the lead to four, 27-23, with 3:19 remaining in the half.
Texas State extended their advantage again, but Daja Chase hit two free throws and Brooks scored a basket with 10 seconds remaining to leave the Warhawks trailing 38-28 as they headed into the locker room.
The Warhawks made the first few points of the second half with a free throw from Chase and a jumper from Brooks, but the Bobcats pushed their advantage back out. The Warhawks cut the lead to three, 55-52, as Hunter made a basket and Tieuel drained a three-pointer with 9:20 left in the game.
The Bobcats used another spurt to take a nine-point lead, but ULM went on a 13-3 run to take a one-point lead at 67-66 with just 52 seconds remaining in regulation.
The teams exchanged free throws to tie the game at 68-68 with 14 seconds left. The ULM defense stepped up and prevented a last-second attempt from beyond the arc to send the Warhawks into their fourth overtime contest of the season.
After shooting just 3-of-12 from the three-point line during regulation, ULM stepped up and went hit all three of their attempts during extra time. The overtime period began with a triple from Wharton to extend the Wawhawk lead to 71-68 with 4:00 remaining.
With the home team leading by two, Wharton stepped behind the arc and drained her shot. Tieuel hit two free throws to extend ULM's lead to seven, 80-73, with 1:39 left.
The Bobcats cut ULM's lead to four, but Wharton hit a pair from the charity stripe to stretch the Warhawk advantage back to six points to preserve the 90-84 victory for the home team.
