All good things must come to an end, and the six-game conference win streak by the ULM women’s basketball team is no different. A combination of turnovers, missed shots and second chance points all contributed to the Warhawks ending their win streak and extending the Trojans’.
“We knew coming in there were some things we had to do to have a shot to win, and being able to rebound was one of them,” head coach Missy Bilderback said. “That was an area we struggled with tonight.”
The Trojans (12-8; 9-1 Sun Belt Conference) got off to a good start with two shots in the paint. Nunu Bradford opened up the scoring for ULM (15-6; 7-3 SBC) with a layup.
The Warhawks had trouble finding the bucket with an unsuccessful layup and a pair of missed 3-pointers. Two jumpers by Troy, one being off a turnover, quickly put ULM in a 7-point deficit.
“I thought they sped us up,” Bilderback said. “We had some […] fumbles or missed shots early that normally, probably go in for us. I definitely think we felt that a bit and had a couple uncharacteristic mistakes.”
Troy had its fair share of inaccuracy early in the second half, only making 1-of-10 field goals through six minutes. Meanwhile, steals and swishes brought the Warhawks right on the heels of the Trojans. A jumper from Brianna Harris and a layup by Sania Wells were enough to give ULM its first and only lead of the match
Not even a minute later, Troy regained the lead with a shot by Makayia Hallmon and kept it for the rest of the match.
Trailing by five with less than 60 seconds before the end of the half, the Warhawks tried to overcome their 5-point deficit but failed with three separate attempts at finding the net.
“I think we’ve got to be able to execute better in certain situations,” Bilderback said. “When we really need a bucket, we need to come up with one.”
Troy started the second half with the same aggressiveness with a seven-point run. The Warhawks responded with an eight-point run of their own.
A turnover by Troy and a clean 3-pointer by Lauren Gross on the Fastbreak within the last minute of play made a losing game seem winnable. But fouls by ULM kept the possible just out of reach, and Troy won 94-83.
“At the end of the day, I thought our players fought hard, played hard, and we still had a chance to win there at the end,” Bilderback said. “We just couldn’t capitalize.”
