MONROE, La. – Alayshia Hunter had game-highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds as the ULM women's basketball team edged Texas State 63-59 on Saturday in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
“One of the things we had struggled with is letting teams get double-digit leads,” head coach Jeff Dow said. “To our credit, more often than not, we have had great comebacks. It's tough to keep doing that. Defensively we talked about buckling down in the fourth quarter. We held them to 21 percent from the field and one made three-pointer.”
ULM, which led 19-9 at the first intermission, took its first lead of the fourth quarter, 59-57, on two Hunter free-throws with 1:26 left. The Bobcats' next possession saw the rebound go out-of-bounds to ULM, and Hunter added a layup that extended the Warhawk lead to 61-57 with 49 seconds to play. Aundrea Davis added two free-throws in the final second that sealed the game.
“We just had the will to win,” Davis said. “Nobody on the team is okay with losing. We wanted to come out and show that we could be that team that could take the lead early.”
Davis' second three-pointer of the day went high off the rim before falling back in. The senior took a hard foul on the next possession and made a free-throw to give ULM a 41-33 lead at the third-quarter media timeout.
Texas State (10-9, 5-4 SBC) responded with an 11-2 run to take their first lead of the game at the 2:08 mark of that period. Ayriel Anderson also connected from deep to begin the fourth quarter, and the Bobcats took their largest lead of the day, 50-46.
ULM tied it back up at 53 when Ashley Aune connected from behind the arc, her first make of the day, with 5:19 showing on the clock. Chelsea Tieuel pulled down a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for the layup that tied the game at 57 with 2:05 remaining, and the Warhawks would never trail from there.
Hunter, who also finished with nine made free-throws, has focused on how she can impact the team even when she is not shooting.
“I'm working on trying to finish near the basket, even in practice,” Hunter said. “I tell everybody to double up on me so I can learn how to play in that situation, even if it's kicking it out for open three-pointers.”
Dow was complimentary of Texas State and of the Warhawks' collective effort.
“They are a very talented team and we had some big-time performances all the way around,” he said. “Aundrea Davis scored 13 points on eight shot attempts and drew a charge. She got four rebounds too.
"Daja Chase and Alayshia Hunter had double-doubles. We ended up with 12 more rebounds, which was big. We made some adjustments in the game and at halftime and our team did a nice job with that as well. I'm really happy with that.”
ULM begins its second Sun Belt lap on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. contest at UL Lafayette.
Inside (and beyond) the Box Score
-ULM has won eight of the last 10 games in the Texas State series.
-ULM's plus-12 rebounding margin was its best since a 40-26 difference in the Dillard game (Nov. 22).
-The 19-9 at the first intermission was ULM's biggest margin in any quarter since outscoring Troy 27-14 in the fourth (Jan. 21). It was also the best defensive first quarter since ULM held a 12-8 lead at Georgia Southern (Jan. 16).
-Texas State came into the game with the Sun Belt's best three-point percentage (36.3 percent) and was held to 2-for-10 shooting from behind the arc in the first half.
-Alayshia Hunter scored 23 points. She is within 39 of becoming ULM's 18th member of the 1,000-point club.
-Her 13 free-throw attempts were a career-high.
-Hunter collected her eighth 20-point game of the year and also played a season-high 37 minutes.
-Daja Chase's 15 points and 10 rebounds gave her a fourth double-double on the year. She was one point shy of a career-high set three games prior (Troy, Jan. 21).
-Her 5-for-5 outing from the charity stripe gives her 11 consecutive made free-throws.
-Chase played 38 minutes, the fifth time in the last seven games she has been on the court that often. She also has seven double-digit rebounding contests this season.
