Hammond, La. – A fourth quarter rally by the ULM women's basketball team wasn't enough, as Southeastern Louisiana pulled back away for a 49-42 win Monday night at University Center.

The Warhawks had a cold shooting night. ULM connected on just 14-of-48 field goal attempts, good for a season-low 29.2 percent, and made just 1-of-16 three-point attempts.
"Obviously a very poor performance offensively all of the way around," said head coach Jeff Dow. "If you hold your opponent to 49 points and 32 percent from the field on their home court, you should be able to find a way to get a win."

The early minutes of the game were indicative of how the night would go for ULM. The Warhawks would miss their first seven shots of the game before Diamond Brooks followed up an offensive rebound with ULM's first field goal to cut SLU's lead to 8-4 with 3:40 left in the opening quarter. Brooks would add another bucket in the final minute of the quarter, as SLU led 10-6 after one.

SLU pushed the lead back to six early in the second quarter, but ULM made a charge, going on an 8-0 run midway through the quarter to claim a 17-14 lead with 4:39 left before halftime. However, the Lions scored seven of the final 10 points of the quarter to lead 21-20 at halftime.

ULM reclaimed the lead to start the third quarter when Destini Lunsford hit the team's only three-pointer of the night, going on top 23-21. However, SLU took over the quarter from there, going on a 14-0 run while ULM was scoreless for eight minutes and 36 seconds before Lauren Fitch connected on a layup to end the drought and cut the deficit to 35-25. Fitch would knock down a free throw to bring ULM within nine after three quarters at 35-26.

The Warhawks made a run at the Lions in the fourth quarter. ULM opened the frame strong, using an 8-0 run early in the quarter to get back within two at 36-34 on a jumper by Fitch. However, ULM would never have the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, as SLU's Celica Sterling buried back-to-back three-pointers on the next two possessions to push the Lion lead to 42-34 with 6:01 to play. ULM would get no closer than four points the rest of the way, when Jamie Means knocked down a long two-pointer with 31 seconds left to get within 46-42.

"We placed a huge emphasis on winning the categories of second chance points and points off turnovers, along with feeling like we could dominate at the free throw line," Dow said. "At halftime, we were up 5-0 in second chance points and had 10 offensive rebounds. In the second half, we only come up with two offensive rebounds and get outscored 9-2 in second chance points. Although we only turned it over 13 times we got outscored 16-7 in points off turnovers. Those two stats alone were the difference. Finally, although we did get 21 free throw attempts, we didn't take advantage of it by only making 13 for 62 percent. There is little margin for error if you shoot it as poorly as we did from the field and the free throw line."

Fitch led ULM with 13 points, while Arsula Clark had eight points and Brooks tallied a season-high seven points. Clark had seven rebounds to lead ULM, while the Warhawks had just six assists as a team.

ULM wraps up the quick two-game road swing on Wednesday afternoon when they visit Houston Baptist. Tip-off is at noon. Links for video coverage and live stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.