ULM Warhawks

MONROE, La. – Senior forward Gabriella Cortez scored a game-high 21 points to lead the ULM women's basketball team to a 90-53 win over Centenary Friday in the season opener for both teams. The Warhawks built a 21-point halftime lead and never looked back en route to their fourth-straight season-opening victory.
 
ULM put together a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter and took a 16-9 lead on a three-pointer from Cortez. Her three-point play with 33 seconds left gave the Warhawks a 22-13 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
 
ULM used a 21-5 run in the second quarter to surge to a 45-21 lead on a three-pointer by freshman Whitney Goins. The Warhawks enjoyed a 47-26 halftime lead. Cortez, who netted 13 of her 21 points in the first half, lead a well balanced offensive attack as eight different players scored. ULM shot 46 percent (19-of-41) from the floor, including 60 percent (6-of-10) from three-point range, while recording 14 assists on 19 made field goals in the first half.
 
The Warhawks shot 75 percent from the field in the third quarter, hitting 9-of-12 attempts, while extending their lead to 40 at 77-37. A three-pointer by junior Alexus Johnson gave ULM its largest lead at 80-39 with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter.
 
Three other ULM starters reached double figures in scoring, including red-shirt junior Jessica Harris (12 points), Goins (11) and sophomore Destini Lunsford (10). The Warhawks outrebounded the Ladies, 47-34. Cortez and sophomore London Archer each had six rebounds.
 
"I'm really pleased to get off to the start that we did tonight," ULM head coach Jeff Dow said. "One of the things that I always look at as a coach is how many assists we have versus how many field goals. The fact that we had 33 made shots and 21 of them came off an assist shows that we're making the effort to make the extra pass or finding somebody that might have a better shot than you do.
 
"I told the team in the locker room that it's all about making progress week to week. One of the things that we discussed was that in our last scrimmage we had a great first half and then a really slow start into the third quarter. Tonight, we had a really good first half and an even better third quarter, so that shows maturity and that we're making some improvement."
 
Cortez, who added three steals and two blocks to her stat line, agreed that the Warhawks played selflessly as a team against Centenary. "Everybody was moving the ball around," she said. "I like how the newcomers came in and showed what they're capable of doing. It was definitely a good team win tonight. I'm very optimistic about this year."
 
The Warhawks return to action Monday, Nov. 13 with a non-conference game at Grambling, with tipoff at 6 p.m. in the Hobdy Assembly Center.