TROY, Ala. – The ULM women's basketball team hung tough against the conference-leading Troy Trojans, but ultimately came up short in the fourth quarter, losing 77-65 Wednesday night at Trojan Arena.
"I thought we played tremendously hard," ULM head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. "I thought we gave a lot of great effort under some challenging circumstances."
The Warhawks (3-18 overall, 1-9 Sun Belt) opened the game red-hot from the 3-point arc. After conceding the first four points of the game, ULM got on the board with back-to-back 3-pointers by Gara Beth Self, and Amber Thompson followed with a trey of her own to put ULM up 9-4. The Trojans (18-3 overall, 9-1 Sun Belt) answered with an 8-0 run to regain the lead, and later used a 6-0 spurt to take a seven-point lead at 18-11. The Warhawks rallied in the final two minutes of the quarter, with Whitney Goins draining a trey to tie the game at 18, and Thompson connected on a jumper from the left elbow at the first quarter buzzer to tie the game at 20 after a quarter.
Troy opened up a 10-point second quarter lead, going up 38-28 with 2:27 left before halftime. Again, ULM used a late quarter push to cut into the deficit. The Warhawks scored seven of the final nine points of the half, getting five points from Goins in the span, to close within 40-35 at halftime.
The Trojans extended their lead again in the third quarter, leading by as much as 12 at 51-39 on a layup by Japonica James with 7:23 left in the quarter. Once again, ULM closed the quarter strong. Trailing 56-46 with 3:33 left in the quarter, ULM limited Troy to 1-of-10 shooting to close out the quarter and scored eight of the final 10 points, with Self's jumper on the right side of the lane bringing ULM within four after three quarters at 58-54.
In the fourth quarter, Troy's depth allowed the Trojans to start pulling away. The Warhawks, playing with just eight players suited up, saw the deficit steadily climb early in the quarter. James maneuvered inside for another layup to push the lead back to double digits at 66-56 with 7:31 left. Troy would not lead by less than 10 for the remainder of the game, putting the Warhawks away, 77-65.
Thompson had a bounce-back game for ULM. The senior had battled illness over the last three games, but responded with 20 points to lead all scorers.
"AB should have a lot of confidence moving forward," Williams said. "I thought she played extremely well on both ends of the floor."
Self tallied her ninth consecutive double-figure game with 13 points, while Goins had her third-straight double-figure outing with 12 points.
"I thought they gave us quick offense tonight," Williams said. "We need them, all three of them, Whitney, GB and Amber Thompson, to bring consistency day in and day out. I'm proud of their offensive efforts. Whitney has been the most consistent of the three the last several outings."
Troy had four players in double figures, led by Alexus Dye with 16 points. James added 14, while Kayla Robinson tallied 11 and Jasmine Robinson had 10.
ULM returns to Fant-Ewing Coliseum to open a four-game home stand, and will play six of their final eight regular season games at home, starting at noon Saturday vs. South Alabama.
"We're excited about being in front of our fans," Williams said. "I think we're excited about showing our fans how much we've improved. Those that have seen us from the very beginning and came out for the last game or so, they've seen our improvement. We're excited about showing our fans how hard we play and our improvements despite our record. We're in the hunt for the conference tournament. We're excited about getting our fans on board and getting them to help us a little bit to get into that tournament."
Saturday's game features the "Donate Those Duffles" drive for the Junior League of Monroe. Every day, a child in foster care transitions into another home without proper luggage. Help the Junior League of Monroe break the cycle. Support "Donate Those Duffles" by bringing in duffles to ensure youth in our area have the appropriate luggage. Donate a duffle bag Saturday and receive four general admission tickets ($10 each, $40 value) for ULM's basketball doubleheader. The men's basketball team will face Georgia State at 2:30 p.m.
Saturday's game is also "Youth Day," with youth 18 and under receiving a free general admission ticket to the doubleheader. Following the men's game, children 12 and under are invited to shoot baskets on the court for 20 minutes.
For tickets, call 318-342-HAWK or visit ULMWarhawks.com. Links to live video, audio and stats are available at ULMWarhawks.com.
