LAFAYETTE, La. – Despite a 27-point effort from Gabriella Cortez, the ULM women's basketball team came up short in its bid for an upset at Louisiana-Lafayette, 63-55, Saturday (Jan. 13) in the Cajundome. ULM (4-12, 1-4 Sun Belt) has dropped back-to-back Sun Belt games by a combined total of 12 points.
 
The Warhawks jumped out to a 6-2 lead on a three-point play by Cortez with 7:20 left in the first quarter. The Ragin' Cajuns (9-8, 4-1) answered with an 8-0 run to take a 10-6 lead on a 3-pointer from Jasmine Thomas. ULL forced ULM into seven first-quarter turnovers and led 14-11 at the end of the opening quarter.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns opened the second quarter with a 12-4 spurt and built their largest lead at 26-15 on a 3-pointer from Nekia Jones with 5:37 remaining in period. ULM responded with a 6-0 run and cut its deficit to five at 26-21 on layup by Jessica Harris with 2:15 left. A layup from Simone Fields at the first-half buzzer gave ULL a 32-23 halftime advantage.
 
The Warhawks put together an 8-1 run to open the third quarter and pulled to within 33-31 on a layup by Cortez with 7:03 remaining in the period. ULM outscored the Ragin' Cajuns, 17-12, in the third quarter to cut its deficit to 44-40. Cortez accounted for 11 points in the third period.
 
ULL scored seven-straight points to start the fourth quarter and matched its biggest lead at 51-40 on a Fields' jumper with 8:28 left. Trailing 55-45, Tan Walker's three-point play sparked a 6-2 spurt as ULM rallied to within 57-51 on a Cortez layup with 3:36 to play. The Ragin' Cajuns pushed their lead back to double digits at 61-51 on a layup from Malachi Williams with 2:15 remaining. Cortez hit another 3-pointer and Walker added a free throw as the Warhawks again cut their deficit to six at 61-55 with 1:23 left in the game.
 
"It was critical that we avoid the third-quarter slump that has plagued our team most of the season," ULM head basketball coach Jeff Dow said. "We were down by nine at halftime, so we desperately needed to get off to a good start in the second half. We were able to cut Louisiana-Lafayette's lead down to two points on multiple occasions in the third quarter.
 
"Give our players credit because they continued to battle back. We made it a two-possession game late in the fourth quarter. We did a much better of taking care of the basketball in the second half (committed only four second-half turnovers), which helped give us an opportunity to win the game."
 
Fields hit 8-of-15 shots from the field and scored 16 points to pace the Ragin' Cajuns while Jones connected on 4-of-7 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
 
"Simone Fields and Nekia Jones combined for 30 points, nearly half of Louisiana-Lafayette's total," Dow said. "Fields is a really tough defensive match-up for us, and Jones does a tremendous job of creating enough separation to shoot 3-pointers."
 
Cortez netted 19 second-half points on her way to a game-high 27, connecting on 9-of-19 field-goal attempts including 3-of-8 3-pointers. She has scored in 87 points in her last three Sun Belt games, with a career-high 32 coming against Coastal Carolina, 28 against Appalachian State and 27 at ULL.
 
"Gabby Cortez has scored 87 points over the last three games," Dow said. "She's been a little under the weather the last few days, so it was a gutty performance. Gabby made a number of shots with a high degree of difficulty. I'm really proud of her effort."
 
ULM also got 10 points from Arsula Clark.
 
"We still must find a way to get more balanced scoring," Dow said. "It's not like we're running every single offensive set for Gabby. Arsula Clark again scored in double figures. Tan Walker went 5-of-7 from the free-throw line and finished with seven points and eight rebounds."
 
The Warhawks return to Sun Belt action next week with road games at Texas State (Thursday, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m.) and UT Arlington (Saturday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m.).