Troy, Ala. - Troy scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed, as they rolled past the ULM women's basketball team 78-56 on Thursday night at Trojan Arena.

The Trojans scored eight points in the first two minutes of the game, using a 3-pointer and fast break layup from Kayla Robinson to open the scoring, followed by a 3-pointer from Shaterrika O'Neal in transition, prompting ULM coach Jeff Dow to take a timeout.

"You don't want to immediately put yourself climbing uphill from the very tip," Dow said. "We kind of steadied ourselves a little bit after the timeout. What's hurt us these last couple of games is some cases one bad quarter, or some cases two. I'd really only say we had one bad quarter. Unfortunately, it was the first one."

The Warhawks would climb within four out of the timeout on layups by Whitney Goins and Lauren Fitch, but would never get any closer. Troy scored the final six points of the first quarter to lead 22-9 after one when Tyra Johnson banked in a 3-pointer from NBA range on the left wing to close the frame.

The Trojans led by as much as 18 in the second quarter before ULM closed the half with a 3-point play by Arsula Clark and a 3-pointer from Tiara Malone to get within 11, 35-24, at halftime.

Free throws by Clark to open the second half pulled the Warhawks within nine at 35-26, but Sky'Lynn Holmes hit a free throw on the next possession to push the lead back to 10. The Warhawks would never get within single digits the rest of the way, with Troy leading by as much as the final margin of 22.

"I thought the effort, the competitiveness, that was all there," Dow said. "I told them there were a few positives. There's typically a huge disparity in the number of field goal attempts that they (Troy) get versus their opponents. Sometimes it's a difference of as many as 25 or 30 shots. They attempted 69, we attempted 66. Clearly, they shot a much better percentage. We forced some turnovers, that hasn't been a strength of late. Fairly even on the boards, fairly even on the turnovers, that results in the shot attempts being at least comparable."

ULM shot 31.8 percent from the field (21-of-66), but struggled again from 3-point range, hitting 18.2 percent (4-of-22) just five days after shooting just over eight percent (2-of-24) at Lafayette against the Ragin' Cajuns. The Warhawks made 10-of-16 free throws (62.5 percent). Troy shot 42 percent from the floor (29-of-69), while hitting 27.6 percent from 3 (8-of-29) and 80 percent at the free throw line (12-of-15). Troy had a slight edge in rebounding, 46-42, with ULM holding Troy under its best-in-the-nation averages of 51.6 rebounds per game and 23 offensive rebounds per game.

Arsula Clark led ULM with 20 points. Clark also pulled in nine rebounds. Clark was just 6-of-15 shooting, but managed to shoot 13 free throws, connecting on eight.

"It's no secret what her game is," Dow said. "A lot of what we try to do offensively, when other people aren't making shots, we pretty much have to resort to put it in Arsula's hands and try and get in the paint and draw a foul or try to get all the way to the rim. Some of the threes we do get are a result of her dribble penetration, the defense collapsing. A pretty gutty effort on her part."

Diamond Brooks scored six points but pulled in a career-high 11 rebounds, with six offensive rebounds. Brooks bested her career-high by halftime by pulling in eight rebounds before the break.

"They're leading the country in rebounding for a reason," Dow said. "For Diamond to do what she did, and finish some shots around the rim, we're going to need length and the size that she brings to the table in the paint and on the boards."

The Warhawks finish off a three-game road trip on Saturday when they visit Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. from the Mitchell Center. Links to video, radio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.