GRAMBLING, La. – Despite getting a double-double from Gabriella Cortez, the ULM women's basketball team lost its first road game of the season at Grambling, 61-52, on Monday, Nov. 13. Turnovers proved to be the difference, as Grambling scored 20 points off 25 Warhawk miscues.
 
Both teams struggled to get into rhythm in the first quarter, shooting a combined 6-of-25 from the field. The Warhawks and Lady Tigers also combined for 11 turnovers. ULM led 9-7 at the end of the first quarter, thanks to its dominance on the offensive glass. The Warhawks scored five of their 9 points off seven offensive rebounds.
 
A pull-up jumper in the lane by Whitney Goins gave ULM its largest lead at 11-7 with 9:12 left in the second quarter. Shakyla Hill accounted for eight points during a 10-0 Grambling run in the second quarter, as the Lady Tigers built a 17-11 advantage. The Warhawks went scoreless for 5:36 during that stretch. ULM cut its halftime deficit to 24-20 on a three-pointer from Cortez with 17 seconds left in the second quarter. There were three ties and four lead changes in the first half.
 
Grambling opened the second half with a 7-0 spurt to extend its lead to 31-20 on Hill's layup with 8:11 left in the third quarter. A layup by Arsula Clark sparked an 8-0 run and ULM pulled to within three at 40-37 on a Cortez three-pointer from the right wing with 42 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Lady Tigers got a trey from Jazmin Boyd with 5 seconds left to claim a 43-37 lead after three quarters.
 
ULM rallied to within four at 43-39 on Clark's layup with 8:57 left in the fourth quarter. Grambling put together a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to build at 59-45 lead. The Warhawks outscored the Lady Tigers, 7-2, over the final 1:57.
 
"I thought our competitiveness was good enough to win the game, but unfortunately, we had a couple of really bad stretches that were tough to overcome," ULM head women's basketball coach Jeff Dow said. "I was proud of the resilience that we showed to keep battling back."
 
Cortez finished with her first career double-double, with 20 points and 14 rebounds. She had a remarkable second half, scoring 14 points and collecting 10 rebounds over the final 20 minutes.
 
"It was an outstanding performance by Gabby to come away with a double-double," Dow said. "At times, it felt like she was carrying us on offense."
 
ULM (1-1) shot 43 percent (20-of-47) from the field and outrebounded the Lady Tigers, 43-31.
 
"We placed a big emphasis on rebounding and I thought we were outstanding in that area," Dow said. "We were wanting to get to the free-throw line 20-plus times and we came up a little short in that area, and it was compounded by only converting eight of 18. But ultimately what did us in was the turnovers. We had 25 and to Grambling's credit, they only had 11. That margin essentially explains why they had 62 field-goal attempts and we only had 47.
 
"Given that seven of the nine players that played tonight were playing their first game in a ULM uniform against a Division I opponent, I thought there were a lot of positives. There's a reason why Grambling is picked to win its conference and will probably win over 20 games."

Hill (team-high 18 points) and Deja McKinney (15) combined for 33 of Grambling's 61 points. The Lady Tigers had a 10-0 advantage in fast-break points.
 
ULM returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 21 for a non-conference home game against Millsaps, with tipoff set for 5 p.m. in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.