MONROE, La. – Arkansas State's Jireh Washington made one-of-two free throws with 1.8 seconds left, and ULM failed to fire off a shot on its final possession, turning the ball over on the inbounds play, as the Red Wolves rallied in the final two minutes to beat the Warhawks, 54-53, Saturday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
"I thought we battled," ULM head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. "I thought we played a really good Arkansas State team very well. We had a really good team effort and fell short."
ULM had strong days from Gara Beth Self and Whitney Goins. Self scored 17 points, 12 in the first half, while Goins tallied 14 points, with four 3-pointers, and added a career-high tying seven rebounds.
"I thought they played solid," Williams said. "I thought both of them, just from tip to buzzer, gave us everything they had. They had to play a lot of minutes. On both ends of the floor, I thought they played very good basketball.
Arkansas State started quickly. After ULM picked up a 3-pointer from Goins on its opening possession, A-State picked up six straight points from Peyton Martin. After a basket by Self brought ULM within one, A-State went on a 7-0 run, capped on a bucket by Washington, to lead by eight at 13-5. The Warhawks fought back, going on their own 7-0 run, capped on Goins' second trey to get within one at 13-12. A-State led by two after a quarter at 18-16.
The two teams would then trade dominating quarters in the middle of the game.
ULM owned the second quarter. The Warhawks scored 13 of the first 14 points of the quarter, taking the lead on a three-point play by Diamond Brooks, and doubling the lead on Goins' third trey. After a free throw by Martin, ULM rattled off five more points thanks to buckets from Kierra Crockett and Self and a free throw by Jamie Means to take a 10-point lead at 29-19. A-State closed within seven twice, but then Self knocked down four free throws in the final 40 seconds of the half to give ULM its largest lead of the game, a 35-24 halftime advantage. A-State was held to 2-of-17 shooting in the quarter, at 11.8%.
A-State stormed back in the third quarter. The Red Wolves scored the first 10 points of the half, including 3-pointers from Payton Tennison and Jada Ford, to cut the gap to one at 35-34. Means answered with a basket inside, but then A-State rattled off six straight points to retake the lead and go up three at 40-37. Goins knotted the game at 40 on her fourth 3-pointer, but Morgan Wallace hit a layup to give A-State the 42-40 lead going to the fourth quarter. ULM shot just 2-of-13 in the quarter, at 15.4%.
The fourth quarter featured three ties and six lead changes. A pair of free throws by Crockett knotted the game for the first time at 42 with 8:31 left. A-State's Trinitee Jackson hit one-of-two free throws to put A-State back on top at 43-42. The lead then flipped back-and-forth for five consecutive scores. Diamond Brooks hit a pair of go-ahead layups inside, but A-State had an answer each time, first with a bucket from Wallace and later with Martin. Self hit her first 3-pointer of the game, handing the lead back to ULM at 49-47 with 5:06 to play.
The scoring then went silent for both sides for nearly three minutes. ULM was the first to break the silence Means grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a baseline jumper to push the Warhawk lead to four at 51-47. A-State answered with the next four points, as Jada Ford scored on fast break layup off a turnover in the full court press, and Washington buried a pair of free throws with 51 seconds to go to tie the game at 51.
Self responded for ULM, driving the right side of the lane and hitting the pull up jumper from just outside the low block to give ULM the 53-51 advantage with 36 seconds left. Martin connected on a basket inside with 22 seconds left to tie the game for A-State. After ULM turned the ball over against the full court pressure, A-State took advantage. After Brooks blocked an initial shot by Washington, Martin grabbed the offensive rebound. The ball came back to Washington, who was fouled underneath the basket with 1.8 seconds left. Washington hit the second of the two free throws to put A-State up 54-53. After a timeout advanced the ball to the front court, ULM's inbounds pass was deflected and stolen, as the Red Wolves sealed the win.
In the loss, ULM also picked up a solid game from Means, who had a season-high tying seven points and matched her career-high with nine rebounds.
"We saw it coming in practice," Williams said. "Jamie looked really good in practice the last couple of days. I'm really happy for her, because she's just a fantastic young lady. It's good to see her have some production in practice leading up to a game. We would not have had the success we had today without her."
Maddi Gatte did not score, but contributed with a career-high five assists and four rebounds.
"I thought Maddi really opened up our offense," Williams said. "I thought she attacked their zone. I thought she really did a good job of getting the ball inside to our bigs and finding Whitney for the three. Maddi's a really good passer. I thought she played very, very well for us today."
Martin led A-State with 15 points, while Wallace had 11 and Ford 10.
ULM travels to Troy for a 6 p.m. game on Wednesday. Links to live video, audio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
