Conway, S.C. – Torrie Cash's 3-point try from the right corner with three seconds left bounced off the rim, as ULM held off Coastal Carolina's furious fourth quarter rally for a 60-57 win at the HTC Center on Saturday.
The Warhawks (9-18, 3-13 Sun Belt Conference) led by as much as 16 in the third quarter before the Chanticleers (16-11, 8-8) battled back in the fourth quarter.
ULM shot a season-best 54.2 percent from the field while hitting 6-of-13 3-point attempts.
For the sixth straight game, ULM led in the second half. However, the Warhawks had dropped four straight games coming in. Head coach Jeff Dow said the message to his team was simple.
"At the end of the day, find a way to win and find a way to finish," Dow said. "We hadn't done that, and taking it a step further, in our 13 losses in the Sun Belt, Georgia State we were tied at the half and eight of them we had the lead in the second half. We finally found a way."
The tone for the afternoon was set on the opening possession of the game, when Amber Thompson jumped a passing lane, stole a pass and went the other way for an uncontested layup.
"That was right out of the scouting report, exactly how we drew it up in terms of what we wanted to do defensively, how we wanted to defend that play, something they hadn't seen us do against them," Dow said. "That was good to see her get that steal and kind of get us going with that quick basket."
ULM trailed 11-10 midway through the first quarter when the Warhawks went on a 10-3 run to take a 16-14 lead at the end of the quarter on a layup by Lauren Fitch and a fastbreak layup by Thompson.
After the Chants tied the game early in the second quarter, ULM held CCU off the board for the next 4:42, going on a 13-0 run. Destini Lunsford hit a pair of 3-pointers while Fitch knocked down a layup to cap the run, leading 29-16 with 4:09 left in the half. ULM led 34-22 at halftime.
"Our best offense in our first half was our defense," Dow said. "We were flying around, getting steals."
In the third quarter, Coastal pulled within nine twice, the last time at 41-32 with 3:52 left. But again, the Warhawks responded. Arsula Clark and Diamond Brooks knocked down jumpers to push the lead to 12, before Lunsford buried her third trey and Logan Oestreich added a 3-pointer from the corner for ULM's largest lead of the night at 16, 51-35, with 24 seconds left in the quarter. ULM led 51-37 after three quarters.
Coastal turned the final bucket of the third quarter into a 10-0 run to cut the gap to six at 51-45 with 7:49 to go. The Warhawks pushed the lead out to nine again, the last time at 56-47 on a layup by Sheniqua Coatney with 4:17 left. Coastal would slowly climb back in the game, eventually pulling within three with 19 seconds left.
ULM had possession of the ball, but a steal by Roche with seven seconds left gave Coastal a chance. The Warhawks left Cash open in the corner for the 3, but it bounced off as ULM held on for the 60-57 win.
"You would've liked to pull away and get convincing and all that, but we still made some big free throws and big baskets in the last couple of minutes to finally finish it off, and the defense was there all game," Dow said.
Clark stuffed the stat sheet for ULM with 18 points (8-of-10 free throws), five rebounds, seven assists and five steals while playing all 40 minutes.
"They were coming after her, and to have the poise to step up and make those free throws like she did, just getting us a little more separation along the way," Dow said. "I felt like there was more than seven assists, too. We're trying to feature her more in the post. They were starting to use a post player, a six-foot, big-bodied kid was trying to match up with her on the block, but she still found a way to drop off a great pass for Shaq for that layup (to go up 56-47)."
Thompson and Lunsford (3-of-4 3s) had nine points each for ULM. Lunsford has now hit five of her last seven 3-point attempts.
"Des hit two big ones late shot clock the other day against App State," Dow said. "Obviously came in with some confidence, knocking down three today, to the point that we were running set plays to get her a 3 by design."
Dow also credited Lunsford's defense on Roche.
"A really underrated part of that is how good of a job she did defensively on Caitlin Roche," Dow said. "Roche is very aggressive looking for her shot. I know she went 2-of-5, and that's a really good percentage, however, she got 10 3s up in the first game and made four of them. Clearly she just wasn't getting that good of a look, and keep her off the free throw line as well for somebody who is as aggressive as she is in trying to find shots."
Dow said the win was a true team effort.
"Look at the performance of our bench," Dow said. "Logan Oestreich makes both of her shots, one of which was a 3 late in the third quarter. Des with her three 3s. And (Coatney) making both of her shots. Collectively, for them to go 7-of-9 from the field was huge."
