MONROE, La. – Second-year freshman Gracen Williams scored a career-high 15 points and sophomore Linda Van Schaik notched her first career double-double as the ULM women's basketball team pulled away from Louisiana Christian, 71-58, Tuesday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
 
The two squads played in front of over 2,000 students from area schools in the annual Take Flight for Education game.
 
"What an incredible crowd today," ULM head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. "We can't thank our area schools enough for coming out and supporting our Education Game. It sure was a special environment."
 
Gracen Williams had a huge second half. She scored 11 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter as she reached double figures for the first time in her career. Williams was 3-of-3 shooting from the field in the final frame, picking up a pair of layups off LCU turnovers and banking in a 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring. She also was a perfect 4-of-4 from the foul line and collected three of her career-high matching seven rebounds in the final 10 minutes. She also dished out four assists in the game.
 
"I thought Gracen played as well as I have seen her play," Brooks Donald Williams said. "She ran the team. She shared the ball and got it to the right folks. She played with emotion and was the juice for us today."
 
Van Schaik was a steady force throughout the game, piling up seven of her 11 points in the decisive fourth quarter and adding a career-high 11 rebounds to reach double-double territory.
 
"It's exciting to see a kid like Linda get her first career double-double playing out of position and doing whatever the team needs her to do," Brooks Donald Williams said. "She's an incredibly hard worker and it's great to see her reap the benefits."
 
The lead changed hands nine times and the game was tied five times as the Warhawks had a difficult time shaking off the Wildcats.
 
"We ran into a hot and well coached LCU team today," Brooks Donald Williams said. "We weren't as efficient as we would have liked to have been on either end of the court today, but we will take the win and run with it."
 
ULM worked out to a 9-5 lead on a 3-pointer by second-year freshman Kyren Whittington with 6:06 left in the first quarter. However, LCU battled back and the lead changed hands six times in the quarter alone. True freshman Aasia Sam's runner from the right elbow fell with one second left in the quarter, lifting ULM to a 17-16 lead after a quarter.
 
After LCU regained the lead early in the second quarter, a layup by Williams tied the game at 19 and a free throw by sophomore Gara Beth Self gave ULM the final lead change at 20-19 with 6:11 to play until halftime. However, ULM was never comfortable until late in the game.
 
A buzzer-beating 3-pointer was banked in by true freshman Bre Sutton to send ULM to halftime with a seven-point lead, 31-24.
 
The Warhawks built on the momentum from the end of the first half to open the second half, scoring the first eight points of the half to take its largest lead at 15, 39-24, on a jumper by true freshman Amaya Ford with 6:41 left in the third quarter.
 
With ULM seemingly pulling away, LCU answered. The Wildcats connected on five 3-pointers over the remainder of the quarter, pulling within two points at 44-42 on a trey by Claire Borot with 58 seconds left in the quarter. Sam and senior Kierra Crockett each hit a free throw in the final minute of the frame to give ULM a 46-42 lead after three quarters.
 
Williams scored a pair of fast break layups off turnovers early in the fourth quarter as ULM's lead ballooned to 11, 54-43. With the lead hovering between seven and 10 points, the Warhawks pulled away down the stretch, resuming a 15-point lead twice before picking up the 71-58 win.
 
In addition to career days from Williams and Van Schaik, Crockett added 11 points and eight rebounds while Whittington had 11 points. Miya McKinney led LCU with 13 points while Amiya Dartez canned four 3-pointers for 12 points.
 
ULM shot 37.7% from the field (23-of-61) to 34.7% for LCU (17-of-49). The Wildcats knocked down nine 3-pointers to just three for ULM. The Warhawks outrebounded LCU, 43-33, and had 18 offensive rebounds.
 
ULM visits Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. Saturday.