Boone, N.C. – Appalachian State used three consecutive 3-pointers, two from Lainey Gosnell, to mount a 9-0 third quarter run to claim the lead and held on for a 56-51 win over ULM Thursday night at the Holmes Convocation Center.
The Warhawks had trouble slowing the sophomore Gosnell, who finished with a career-high 26 points to pace App State.
"We let her get loose," said head coach Jeff Dow. "We had three just huge breakdowns on stuff that we had gone over the past three days, one at the end of the half and two in the third quarter, early that she hit. Unfortunately, all things we had done really well in the first half. We had a breakdown, didn't get out to her. That's obviously her thing. It's frustrating, a kid who's averaging 10.3 points per game, she hangs 26 on us."
ULM (8-18, 2-13 Sun Belt Conference) led 34-30 midway through the third quarter after Destini Lunsford knocked down her first of two 3-pointers on the night. App State (14-12, 8-7) responded with Gosnell knocking down two of her three treys on the night around a three-pointer from Tierra Wilson to send the Mountaineers to a 39-34 lead with 1:52 left in the third quarter. The Mountaineers led 43-39 at the end of the quarter.
"As well as we defended the 3-point line in the first half and even going back to last week's game against (UT Arlington), the first half they go 1-of-10 from 3, the third quarter they go 3-of-5," Dow said. "All of a sudden, they have a 19-point quarter and you look at the other three quarters, 13 points, 11 points, 13 points, that was even with us fouling at the end of the game."
In the fourth quarter, the Warhawks cut the deficit to one on a trey by Whitney Goins with 7:02 remaining. However, App State responded with a 6-0 spurt, all by Gosnell, to take their largest lead of the night at 51-44 with 4:22 to play.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, with ULM claiming the advantage off a 3-pointer from Goins and a blocked shot by Sheniqua Coatney leading to a transition layup for Lauren Fitch to go up 13-8 with 3:56 left in the first quarter. ULM led 15-13 after one.
In the second quarter, ULM trailed 21-19 when the Warhawks held the Mountaineers scoreless for just over five minutes, mounting an 8-0 run. Arsula Clark came through with the first and last baskets on the run, and picked up the assist on the other two buckets.
ULM led 27-24 at halftime after Gosnell hit a 3 in the waning seconds of the half.
"Clearly it's frustrating, third game in a row we have a lead in the second half and not be able to finish it off, third game in a row where we score 51 points," Dow said. "That's tough to swallow. We've had to remind them periodically, we've had 26 games to figure this out, look at the season stats, look at the Sun Belt stats, look at the game-by-game, look at the film and we have no margin for error on the defensive end and rebounding."
Clark led the Warhawks with 16 points to pace ULM while pulling in six rebounds. She also added three assists and three steals.
"First half, she was 5-of-10, struggled a little bit in the second half at 3-of-11, but had some good looks," Dow said. "They were being extremely physical with her. She made some great decisions in the post. She had some nice passes where she dropped it off to our post player diving down from the opposite elbow."
Fitch was the only other Warhawk in double figures, scoring 10 points and tracking down eight rebounds.
"We always talk about balance," Dow said. "We only had two people in double figures. That's frustrating. It's hard to win until you start consistently having three or four people in double figures."
Dow said he did like some of the bench production.
"I thought it was good to see Destini Lunsford hit a couple of 3s," Dow said. "Diamond Brooks with four rebounds, made a couple of shots as well. Jamie Means with three o-boards."
The Warhawks play their final road game of the 2018-19 season on Saturday at Coastal Carolina. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. Visit ULMWarhawks.com for links to live video, audio and stats.
