Mobile, Ala. - South Alabama outscored the ULM women's basketball team 33-5 in the fourth quarter, turning a game that was tied at 44 at the end of three quarters into a resounding Jaguar victory, 77-49, on Saturday at the Mitchell Center.
"I thought we played great the first 25 minutes of the game," said head coach Jeff Dow. "Obviously, we just had a reminder that it's a 40 minute game."
ULM (7-11 overall, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference) led for a majority of the game. The Warhawks used a 10-0 run in the second quarter, capped by a pair of Amber Thompson 3-pointers, to take an 11-point lead at 26-15 with 4:34 left in the half. ULM would lead 30-19 before South Alabama (16-3 overall, 5-3 Sun Belt Conference) closed the first half on a 9-1 run to cut ULM's lead to 31-28 at halftime.
The Warhawks regained a 10-point lead early in the third quarter. Whitney Goins hit a pair of 3-pointers around Arsula Clark's 3-point play to put ULM up 40-30 with 7:51 left in the third quarter.
That's where South Alabama took over the game. The Jaguars used a 12-1 run to take the lead on free throws by Antoinette Lewis with 1:50 remaining in the third quarter. Destini Lunsford connected on her only 3-pointer of the night to put the Warhawks back up 44-42, but Savannah Jones made a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to tie the game at 44 at the end of the third quarter.
It was all Jaguars in the fourth quarter. South Alabama scored the first five points of the frame before Clark hit two free throws to get back within three at 49-46 with 7:20 left. USA then went on a 14-0 run to build the lead out to 17 at 63-46, and continued to bury shots down the stretch to pull away.
"You cannot afford to have a bad 10 minutes," Dow said. "We were scoring the ball extremely well, shooting it really well the first 25 minutes or so, taking care of it. We weren't rebounding it particularly well. We got into a rut over the last few minutes of the third quarter, and the entire fourth quarter, where we weren't making shots, but we weren't coming up with enough offensive rebounds to make a dent or impact in that regard. It felt like if they missed, inevitably they got an offensive rebound, mainly Antoinette Lewis. She had nine offensive rebounds. If you look at our individual players, it added up to 10."
Dow gave credit to the Jaguars for their rally.
"They hit some shots that maybe they weren't hitting in the first half," Dow said. "It's still a 40 minute game. We can say the score is deceiving, but it's not. At the end of the day, the margin is what it is. Yeah, it's great that we were tied at the end of three quarters, but we couldn't get it done in the fourth quarter. I just thought a lot of those 50-50 balls we were coming up with in the first half, even the first five minutes of the third quarter, we stopped coming up with them. They had a little more of a sense of urgency to wrap up some rebounds than what we did. They had a little more sense of urgency to come up with some loose balls and some balls that were in our hands that didn't stay in our hands."
Clark was the only ULM scorer in double figures with 16 points. Lewis had a double-double for USA with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Jones added 21 points.
ULM shot 32.7 percent (18-of-55) from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point range (6-of-18) and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. South Alabama finished at 47.1 percent (32-of-68) from the field, 42.9 percent from 3-point range (6-of-14) and 7-of-13 at the free throw line. The Jaguars out-rebounded ULM 46-32, with USA pulling in 19 offensive rebounds.
The Warhawks return home to Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Thursday to face Coastal Carolina with tip-off at 6:30. Tickets are available by calling 318-342-HAWK or by visiting ULMWarhawks.com. Links to live video, radio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
