Emma Merriweather recorded a double-double, setting career highs with 30 points and 15 rebounds vs. Champion Christian.
Luke Richard/ULM Athletics
54
Champion Chris. CC 0-4
85
Winner ULM ULM 3-4,0-0 Sun Belt
Champion Chris. CC
0-4
54
Final
85
ULM ULM
3-4,0-0 Sun Belt
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Champion Chris. CC 16 14 12 12 54
ULM ULM 21 21 19 24 85

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Behind Merriweather’s Double-Double, ULM Dominates Champion, 85-54

MONROE, La. – Emma Merriweather hit 15-of-20 field-goal attempts and set career highs with 30 points and 15 rebounds to lead the ULM women's basketball team to an 85-54 victory over Champion Christian Saturday afternoon in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks led from start to finish en route to ending a three-game losing streak.
 
ULM (3-4) raced out to an 8-0 lead in the first 2:48, with Merriweather scoring six of those points. Champion Christian, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association, put together an 8-2 run to pull to within 10-8 on Aaliyiah Clark's 3-pointer with 4:55 left in the first quarter. The Tigers cut their deficit to 17-16 on a 3-pointer by Kamryn Gentry with 1:51 on the clock. The Warhawks scored the next four points and led 21-16 at the end of the opening period. Merriweather accounted for 12 points and eight rebounds in the first 10 minutes.
 
The Warhawks reeled off 10-straight points to open the second quarter and built a 31-16 advantage on Kierra Brimzy's pull-up jumper in the lane to finish the fastbreak with 6:39 on the clock. Champion Christian responded with an 8-2 spurt late in the period to cut the margin to nine at 39-30 on Clark's 15-foot jumper with 44 seconds remaining in the period. ULM enjoyed a 12-point cushion at the intermission, 42-30. The Warhawks hit 10-of-16 shots (.625) in the second quarter while outrebounding the Tigers, 15-3.
 
Merriweather finished the first half with 22 points on 11-of-16 field-goal shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, with seven of those coming off the offensive glass.
 
ULM outscored Champion Christian, 13-4, over the first 4:55 of the third quarter and built a 55-34 lead on Amani Brown's 3. The Warhawks led by 19 at the end of three quarters, 61-42.
 
Brimzy's turnaround jumper in the lane sparked a 9-0 run as ULM pushed its lead to 70-45 on Katlyn Manuel's put-back with 5:47 left in the fourth quarter. Brown's layup – off a steal and assist from Olivia Knight – gave the Warhawks' their biggest lead at 85-54 with 54 seconds remaining and provided the final margin.
 
"Hats off to Champion Christian because I thought they would play us tough and they did," ULM head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. "It wasn't necessarily the start we wanted in the first half, but we really locked in during the second half, shared the basketball and dominated the game, especially in the paint.
 
"In the first half, we took some shots early in the clock and didn't run the offense very efficiently. Champion Christian took advantage of that in the first half, but we really cleaned things up in the second half and did a much better job."
 
ULM made 48 percent (37-of-77) of its shots from the floor, including 5-of-13 (.385) from 3-point range, while limiting Champion Christian to 20-of-60 (.333) field-goal shooting. The Warhawks held a lopsided advantage in points off turnovers, 14-3; points in the paint, 62-14; second-chance points, 28-3; fast-break points, 8-1; and bench scoring, 43-9.
 
It marked Merriweather's second double-double of the season and seventh in her career. Nine of her 15 rebounds came off the offensive glass. Merriweather became the first Warhawk to score 30 points since Arsula Clark netted 33 against Arkansas State on March 7, 2019, and her 15 rebounds marked team's highest single-game total since Linda van Schaik collected 16 boards against Mississippi Valley on Dec. 20, 2021.
 
"We found Emma Merriweather early and often, and she was able to establish an offensive presence in the low post," Williams said. "This is going to be a great confidence booster for her."
 
Brown, who connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field including 4-of-5 3-pointers, reached double figures for the first time in her ULM career, finishing with 20 points and five rebounds. She totaled 11 points in her first five games.
 
"We've been waiting on Amani to just let loose and play her game," Williams said. "She did a great job and really got us going offensively. Behind what Emma was doing inside, Amani put a lot of stress on Champion Christian's defense with her ability to knock down the perimeter shots."
 
Brimzy recorded her first career double-double with 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds. She made 6-of-9 field-goal attempts.
 
"Brimzy shot the ball extremely well and was very efficient offensively," Williams said. "She did a really good job of establishing an offensive presence at the high post and low post. Brimzy has a nice shooting touch from 10-to-15 feet. It was nice to see her get going offensively today."
 
Qua Chambers came off the bench and recorded a career-high seven assists.
 
"Qua is kind of an X-factor because she does some things that don't always show up on the stat line," Williams said. "She really helped get us going. She brought a different type of energy defensively and ran the floor well on offense. Qua helped create some of those team-scoring opportunities."
 
ULM will take a six-day break for final exams before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Northwestern State at 1 p.m.
 
"We're going to taking a little break, so our student-athletes can focus on doing well on final exams," Williams said. "After finals, it's all basketball for the rest of December. So, it's going to be a lot of fun. We close out the month with four-straight home games, so we look forward to seeing our fans come out during the holidays."
 
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