MOBILE, Ala. – Chelsea Tieuel scored a career-high 25 points, and the Warhawks led by as much as 22 in a 67-54 win at South Alabama on Thursday night.
“I thought it was a great, all-around effort by our team for 40 minutes,” head coach Jeff Dow said. “I thought we played well in all three phases: offense, defense and rebounding. The 14 offensive boards were huge not just for second-chance points, but to run clock in the fourth quarter as well.”
Emery Wilson's short jumper with 9:12 remaining in the game gave ULM a 58-36 advantage, its best of the night, but the Jaguars scored seven straight points to force a ULM timeout with 6:18 to play. Tieuel helped stave off any potential rally with three free-throws and a layup to finish the night.
“It was certainly a great effort on three-pointers to go 8-of-19 for 42 percent,” Dow said. “Obviously, Chelsea led the way there. It was a balanced effort to have eight players with double-digit minutes as well as score. Chelsea's 25 points were huge and she was efficient in only needing 14 shots. We got a lift from everyone off the bench. Journee [Beard], Andreanna [Jackson] and Stephanie [Ratliff] all made plays to help us out.”
The Warhawks (10-16, 4-13 SBC) took a 34-26 lead, its largest of the first half, with 39 seconds left after Alayshia Hunter hit a pair of free-throws. Jackson capped off the first half-ending 11-4 run with a twisting runner in the paint that gave ULM a 36-26 lead heading into the locker room.
“I knew we had to win since we had lost the last two on this trip,” Tieuel said. “Even though we lost those, I felt like we had good games. We are playing more as a team now.”
ULM took a 48-30 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter. The 7-0 run also included seven straight missed field goals by USA.
South Alabama (13-13, 9-8 SBC) had the first five points of the night, but ULM ended the first quarter on a 12-4 run that gave it an 18-13 lead. Tieuel had 11 points in that opening period.
The Warhawks will stay in the Yellowhammer State for Saturday's 2 p.m. game at Troy.
Inside (and beyond) the Box Score
-ULM improved to 8-1 this year when leading at the half.
-The Warhawks have won four of the last five head-to-head meetings with South Alabama.
-ULM held USA to just two three-pointers on 11 attempts. The Warhawks have allowed 10 makes on 39 opponent attempts over the last three games (25.6 percent).
-It was the seventh time this season that a team made two or fewer deep balls against ULM.
-The 22-point lead marked the highest by ULM in the Jeff Dow era (Sun Belt games only).
-ULM had a 19-10 rebounding advantage in the first half.
-Chelsea Tieuel also had season-highs in free-throws (8) and attempts (10) in addition to her personal-best 25 points.
-Alayshia Hunter's 13 points allowed her to jump former teammate Ashleigh Simmons (2010-14) for 16th all-time at ULM. She is three points away from catching Chrissa Hailey, who had 1,046 points from 1983-87.
-Stephanie Ratliff had a career-high eight rebounds to go with four blocks in 21 minutes. It's back-to-back career-highs for her after she swatted seven shots on Saturday at UTA.
-Ratliff entered the night seventh in the Sun Belt with 28 blocks. She now has 17 in her last five games.
-Ashley Aune connected twice from behind the arc, her eighth multi-triple game. She had just eight makes combined in her first three years.
-Andreanna Jackson made four of her first five shot attempts en route to her nine-point game (most since Dec. 31).
