Kierra Brimzy scored a team-high 18 points in ULM's 73-71 road victory at Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023.
Bob McCool
73
Winner ULM ULM 6-9,2-2 Sun Belt
71
Coastal Carolina CCU 6-9,1-3 Sun Belt
Winner
ULM ULM
6-9,2-2 Sun Belt
73
Final
71
Coastal Carolina CCU
6-9,1-3 Sun Belt
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
ULM ULM 22 14 20 17 73
Coastal Carolina CCU 9 21 33 8 71

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Brimzy, Sutton Combine for 34 Points; ULM Earns Road Win at Coastal, 73-71

CONWAY, S.C. – Kierra Brimzy and Bre Sutton combined for 34 points as ULM rallied from a seven-point third-quarter deficit for a 73-71 Sun Belt Conference victory at Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 7. Brimzy hit a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left to break a 71-all tie and give the Warhawks their first Sun Belt road win since defeating Texas State, 58-55, on Jan. 16, 2020.
 
Overall, ULM (6-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) ended a 22-game road losing skid (tied with Bellarmine for the nation's second-longest streak), including 19 straight in conference play.
 
After Coastal Carolina's Arin Freeman opened the scoring with a layup, the Warhawks scored 14 of the next 18 points and took a 14-6 lead on Brimzy's 15-foot jumper from the free-throw line with 4:30 to play in the first quarter. Gara Beth Self provided a spark off the bench, completing a 3-point play and burying a deep 3-pointer from the top of the circle, and Emma Merriweather followed with a layup, off a cross-court feed from Qua Chambers, as ULM built its largest lead at 22-7 with 1:43 on the clock. The Warhawks led 22-9 at the end of the opening period.
 
ULM shot 53 percent (9-of-17) from the field in the first quarter, forced Coastal into six turnovers and limited the Chanticleers to 1-of-9 field-goal shooting over the last 6 1/2 minutes.
 
Coastal (6-9, 1-3) opened the second quarter with a 10-3 spurt to cut its deficit to 25-16 on two free throws from Angie Juste-Jean with 6:27 on the clock. The Warhawks responded with 9-3 run and pushed their lead back to 12 points at 34-22 on Olivia Knight's deep 3 from the right wing off a pitch-back assist from Self with 4:19 remaining in the opening half. The Chanticleers outscored ULM, 8-2, over the final 4:04 to pull to within 36-30 at the intermission.
 
Coastal scored 11 of its 21 second-quarter points off ULM turnovers (11 in the period).
 
The Chanticleers, who carried their momentum into the third quarter, outscored ULM, 10-2, over the first 2:49 and claimed their first lead since 2-0 at 40-38 on Freeman's layup with 7:11 on the clock. The Warhawks got back-to-back layups from Merriweather and Sutton went coast-to-coast for another layup to regain the lead at 44-40 with 5:54 remaining. There were three lead changes and three ties in a frantic third period. Coastal put together a late 7-2 spurt to seize its largest lead at 63-56 on Miriam Recarte's 3-pointer that rattled in from the right wing with :05 left.
 
ULM reeled off six-straight points as Chambers scored a layup off a Merriweather steal, Sutton followed with a layup and Chambers hit a pair of free throws as the Warhawks pulled to within one at 65-64 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter. Juste-Jean's deep 3-pointer from the right wing gave Coastal a 70-68 advantage with 4:23 on the clock. The Warhawks regained the lead at 71-70 as Sutton made 1-of-2 free throws and followed with the layup with 2:39 to play in regulation. Coastal tied the score at 71-all as Deaja Richardson hit 1-of-2 free-throw attempts with 1:08 on the clock. ULM forced a 10-second violation with 25.8 seconds remaining. Brimzy, who was fouled attempting a jumper in the lane with 4.5 seconds left, calmly sank both free throws for a 73-71 lead. Following the made free throws, the Chanticleers called a timeout to advance the ball to the frontcourt; however, coming out of the break, Coastal was unable to get a shot off before time expired. The Warhawks held CCU without a made field goal over the last 4:23 in the period.
 
"I'm extremely proud of our effort," ULM head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. "We executed the game plan to a T. It's exciting to win on the road against a veteran team, like Coastal Carolina.
 
"Our goal was to hold (Coastal forward) Aja Blount below her season averages (16.3 points and 8.4 rebounds), and we did just that as she finished with eight points and six rebounds. That was big."
 
ULM connected on 30-of-57 field-goal attempts (season-best 53 percent) while Coastal managed to hit 25-of-64 from the floor (39 percent). The Warhawks shot 77 percent (10-of-13) from the foul line, including 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter. ULM outrebounded the Chanticleers, 37-34. The Warhawks held an advantage in points in the paint, 38-28; and bench points, 24-19. CCU parlayed ULM's 21 turnovers into 21 points (21-14 edge).
 
Four Warhawks scored in double figures, led by Brimzy, who made 8-of-15 shots from the field as well as her only free-throw attempts, while matching her season high with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds.
 
"I'm really proud of Kierra Brimzy's performance," Williams said. "She was very aggressive offensively, looking for her shot. Kierra did a great job of playing to her strength and that's in that mid-range shooting area. She made some big shots."
 
Sutton recorded her first career double-double, finishing with a season-high 16 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. Seven of those points came in the fourth quarter. She connected on 7-of-13 field-goal attempts, including her first 3-pointer of the season.
 
"Bre Sutton got off to a quick start and played really well early," Williams said. "Bre got a little out of control in the second quarter, but she executed at a very high level down the stretch. There was a lot of chaos at the end of the game, but she showed some grit, settled the team down and handled it like a seasoned player."
 
Merriweather posted her second-straight double-double on the road trip and fourth of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She also matched her season high with four blocked shots and set a career high with four steals.
 
Self came off the bench to score 10 points, hitting 4-of-6 shots from the floor including her only 3-point attempt.
 
"Gara Beth Self played the role of a game-changer this afternoon," Williams said. "GB played with toughness, coming out to meet passes, and her maturity helped settle us down at critical moments. We've been waiting for this from her, but you could see it coming because she was so locked in this morning when we reviewed the scouting report. Hopefully, this provides her a confidence boost for the rest of the season."
 
Chambers scored all six of her points in the decisive fourth quarter while Amaya Ford contributed six points in the third period.
 
"This was the definition of a team win," Brooks said. "We played the second game of the road trip short-handed, with Katlyn Manuel's playing time limited (2 1/2 minutes with a dislocated finger) and Myca Trail out with an injury. Qua Chambers and Amaya Ford made an impact off the bench, especially in the second half."
 
Richardson led Coastal with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 field-goal shooting, including 2-of-5 3s. The Chanticleers also got 14 points from Freeman and 10 from Juste-Jean.
 
ULM resumes its four-game Sun Belt Conference road trip next week at Troy on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. and at Southern Miss on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.
 
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