MONROE, La. -Â The ULM Warhawks return to Fant-Ewing Coliseum for their final two games of the 2019-20 season, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday vs. Texas State. The Warhawks have lost 11 straight games after falling short at Appalachian State, 68-49, on Saturday. Texas State has turned its season around, winning five of their last eight games after Saturday's 67-62 win over Georgia State.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (based on previous game)
#2
Gara Beth Self, 5-8, Fr., G: 9.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.0 apg
#1
Amber Thompson, 5-9, Sr., G: 11.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.4 apg
#11
Whitney Goins, 6-0, Jr., G/F: 6.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.1 apg
#4
Kierra Crockett, 6-0, Jr., F: 5.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg
#24
Diamond Brooks, 6-2, Jr., C: 8.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg
STARTING FIVE
1. Senior guard
Amber Thompson is closing out her career on a tear for the Warhawks. Thompson has scored in double figures in four straight games and six of the last seven contests to improve her scoring average to a season-high 11.0 points per game. Thompson led the team with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 2-of-3 3-point shooting in Saturday's loss at Appalachian State. Against the trapping zone of App State, Thompson settled the Warhawks down with three assists and three turnovers. She added five rebounds. Thompson has 14 double-figure games this season, with 11 coming inside of Sun Belt Conference play.
2. Junior guard/forward
Whitney Goins was aggressive with her shot on the Carolina road swing. Goins launched 31 shots over two games, and scored in double figures in both contests. Goins attempted a career-high 19 shots, making five, including a pair of 3-pointers, while scoring 14 points at Coastal Carolina on Thursday. Goins then canned 4-of-10 3-point attempts on Saturday and finished 4-of-12 from the field for 12 points at Appalachian State. All four of Goins' treys came in the second half as ULM rallied from a 22-point halftime deficit to cut as close as seven points in the fourth quarter.
3. The road swing proved tough for junior center
Diamond Brooks, as she matched up with two of the top post players in the Sun Belt in Coastal Carolina's Naheria Hamilton and Appalachian State's Bayley Plummer. Brooks was nearly averaging a double-double over the four games prior to the road trip, averaging 9.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Over the two games in the Carolinas, Brooks scored a total of two points and pulled down nine rebounds. She battled foul trouble in Thursday's loss to Coastal Carolina.
4. Sophomore guard/forward
Maddi Gatte has proven efficient shooting from the field over the last three contests. Gatte is averaging 6.7 points over the last three games while shooting 47.4% from the field. On the season, Gatte sits at 3.3 points per game and is shooting 30.4% from the floor.
5. ULM hit all 14 of its free throw attempts in Thursday's loss at Coastal Carolina. It marked the first time since Feb. 21, 2019, against Texas State that ULM had made all of its free throw attempts in a game (minimum 10 attempts).
PREVIEWING TEXAS STATE
Thursday's game is the 56th all-time meeting between the Warhawks and Bobcats, with ULM holding a 32-23 advantage in the series. The two teams have met as members of both the Southland and Sun Belt Conferences. Out of the 55 previous meetings between the two programs, only five are classified as non-conference games. The two squads were each in the Southland Conference from 1988 to 2006 and have been together in the Sun Belt since Texas State joined the league prior to the 2013-14 season. ULM won the first meeting between the two teams, rallying from a 28-24 halftime deficit for the 58-55 win in San Marcos on Jan. 16.
Texas State lost its first eight Sun Belt Conference games of the season, despite leading at halftime in six of the eight games. The Bobcats have now won five of their last eight games, and picked up a 67-62 win over Georgia State on Saturday to move into sole possession of the 10th and final spot in next week's Sun Belt Conference tournament. The Bobcats can clinch the final spot in the tournament with a win Thursday night at ULM or on Saturday against the Ragin' Cajuns.
Texas State's turnaround started with a 72-55 win over UT Arlington on Feb. 1 in San Marcos. The Bobcats have won four of their last five games, defeating Little Rock, 50-47; Arkansas State, 83-69; Georgia Southern, 72-68; and Georgia State, 67-62.
The Bobcats are one of the top assist and turnover teams in the Sun Belt Conference. Texas State ranks second in the conference in assists (14.0 per game), turnover margin (+3.1 per game) and assist to turnover ratio (0.98).
Sophomore forward Da'Nasia Hood leads the Bobcats in both scoring and rebounding at 13.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Hood ranks fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in 3-point field goals made (1.96 per game), sixth in field goal percentage (37.5%), eighth in scoring, 10th in defensive rebounding (4.8), 12th in minutes played (31.8 per game) and 14th in rebounding. Hood has scored in double figures in 20 games, including five consecutive games and eight of the last nine contests. Hood has topped 20 points four times, including a career-high 28 points on the strength of 7-of-7 3-point shooting against UT Arlington on Feb. 1. She has four double-figure rebounding games and three double-doubles, going for 17 points and 14 rebounds at South Alabama (Jan. 25), 17 points and 14 rebounds at Little Rock (Feb. 13) and 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. Georgia Southern (Feb. 27). Hood scored 20 points on 3-of-5 3-point shooting with six rebounds vs. ULM on Jan. 16.
Senior guard Brooke Holle is second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points per game and is tied with Hood for the team lead in rebounding at 6.4 boards per game. Holle ranks fifth in the Sun Belt Conference in free throw percentage (82.1%), sixth in steals (1.8 per game), seventh in defensive rebounding (5.1 per game) and minutes played (33.0) and 12th in rebounding. Holle has reached double-figure scoring in 13 games, and has topped 20 points twice, scoring 21 points (6-of-8 3-point shooting) vs. UT-Permian Basin on Nov. 16 and 22 points vs. Little Rock on Jan. 2. Holle has four double-doubles on the season, with 15 points and 11 rebounds vs. the Ragin' Cajuns on Jan. 18, 14 points and 12 rebounds at South Alabama on Jan. 25, 19 points and 11 rebounds vs. UT Arlington on Feb. 1 and 15 points and 11 rebounds at Arkansas State on Feb. 15. ULM held Holle in check in the first meeting, as she scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting and tracked down eight rebounds on Jan. 16.
Sophomore point guard Kennedy Taylor is third on the team in scoring at 9.9 points per game while leading the Bobcats and the Sun Belt Conference in assists at 5.9 dimes per game. Taylor is second in the conference in minutes per game (35.4), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0) and fifth in steals (1.9 per game). Taylor has scored in double figures in 14 games, including a season-high 22 points vs. UTSA on Dec. 4. Taylor also has three double-figure assist games, handing out a season-high 13 assists vs. UT Arlington on Feb. 1. Taylor had six points, four rebounds and four assists vs. ULM on Jan. 16.
Also in the Sun Belt Conference statistical rankings, senior guard Bailey Holle, the twin sister of Brooke Holle, ranks seventh in steals at 1.7 per game and 14th in assists at 2.6 per game.
