2022-23 ULM WBB Notes: Game 6 vs. Mississippi State
MONROE, La. – The ULM women's basketball team brings four of its Warhawks back home Tuesday, Nov. 29, when it faces Mississippi State at 7 p.m. in Starkville. ULM head coach
Brooks Donald Williams is a proud alumna of the university, graduating in 2000, and sophomore guard/forward Amaya Ford from Starkville, sophomore point guard Olivia Knight from Pearl and junior guard
Gara Beth Self from New Albany, represent the Magnolia State on the Warhawks roster.
A former member of the Mississippi State women's basketball program, Williams returns to Starkville for the first time as head coach of the Warhawks. Her 2007-08 McNeese team played in Humphrey Coliseum in her first year as head coach of the Cowgirls.
"We have three Mississippi girls, one who is a Starkville native, and I went to school there, so this (game) means a little something different to all of us," said ULM head women's basketball coach
Brooks Donald Williams.
"Playing tough, elite competition is a part of the building process that I love," Williams said. "It helps give us a gauge. For 25 minutes against a good UCF team, we did some really good things. It helped us to see where we are and what we need to go back and work on at a very different level. Mississippi State will be no different."
The trip to an SEC foe, first for ULM since visiting No. 16 Arkansas for the 2020-21 season opener (L, 50-103), is part of a deliberate scheduling process. This year, ULM has several advantages, playing nine home games, including the first two Sun Belt contests, in Fant-Ewing Coliseum through the end of the calendar year. Tuesday's trip to Mississippi State is the second away game for the Warhawks after they traveled to UCF last week.
ULM (2-3) and Mississippi State (5-2) play for the eighth time on Tuesday, and the Bulldogs are 7-1 overall, winning the last five straight. The last time the two programs met was on Nov. 25, 2014, and ULM's only win in the series came in Starkville on Dec. 4, 1993, the first of a home-and-home series that season.
"Mississippi State will be the best team we will face so far," Williams said. "They don't have the size Central Florida did, but they are athletic from top to bottom. We expect them to mix things up defensively and try to score quickly in their offense.
"We are excited about the challenge and, mainly, the opportunity. We will need to be at our very best, but that is what we are trying to teach on any given day, so the message stays the same. However, anytime you compete against someone from one of the best conferences in our game, it helps your program."
The Bulldogs have fielded the same starting lineup for all seven games, averaging 75.3 points per contest with redshirt senior forward/center Jessika Carter leading the scoring and rebounding at 13.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, respectively. For the Warhawks, redshirt senior guard Kierra Brimzy is just a touch under 10 points a game at 9.8 with sophomore forward Katlyn Manuel at 9.2 and sophomore guard Olivia Knight rounding out the top three at 8.8 ppg.
The Warhawks lead the Sun Belt and are 29th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at 37.7. Knight leads ULM with 12 treys on the year and the Warhawks have only 53 attempts in five games with great attention to shot selection. Mississippi State is averaging 6.4 treys per game and is shooting at a 31.7 clip. The Bulldogs have made a season-high 10 treys in two games this year and hoisted 27 attempts at South Dakota State, connecting on seven in that loss.
With ULM's scoring advantage at +11.8 (70.2 ULM, 54.8 opponents), the next eye-popping numbers come in the rebounds column. The Warhawks hold a 41.8 to 40.8 rebounds per game advantage over their opponents in the five games so far this season. ULM matched a taller UCF team with 41 boards and outhustled the Knights 19-13 on the offensive glass. Manuel has 15 offensive rebounds this season and graduate center Emma Merriweather snatched 14 in her four games.
In the first four games, the Warhawks had four different leading scorers with Brimzy the first to repeat in that role with 11 points at UCF. On the glass, the top production comes from Merriweather, who had double-figure rebounding games vs. Centenary (13) and Central Arkansas (10), and Manuel, who had the top totals for the Warhawks in the opener vs. Louisiana College (16) and nine vs. Louisiana Tech. Manuel shared high honors with Ford with eight at UCF.
After its trip to Starkville, ULM remains in-state with seven games in Louisiana, five at home in Fant-Ewing Coliseum, starting with Champion Christian at noon on Saturday, Dec. 3.
