After a tense first half, the ULM Women’s Basketball team pulled off a 69-60 win Tuesday night against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
The Warhawks (18-11; 10-7 Sun Belt Conference) picked up their 10th conference win of the season, dusting off a stat that had previously been untouched since the 2007-2008 season.
The Red Wolves (13-15; 6-11 SBC) flexed a bit of their home field advantage to lead 39-34 at the end of the first half. During the third and fourth quarter, the Warhawks settled down and outscored the home team 35-21.
Early misses by ULM stunted what could have been an early lead. Instead, the Warhawks allowed the Red Wolves to remain close behind. By the end of the first quarter, the score tied a total of four times, with ULM relinquishing the lead just once.
A minute into the second quarter, Ark State’s Lauryn Pendleton made a 3-pointer to tie the game. The Red Wolves stood their ground and allowed ULM to pull ahead only one time. ULM struggled to keep up the pace, and soon a 9-point deficit stared down the Warhawks.
Both ULM and Ark State struggled to find the basket during the third quarter, so much so to cause a 3-minute scoring drought between the two teams. ULM’s Jakayla Johnson and Daisha Bradford scored a combined 7 points to trail by just a single point before the quarter ended.
The final quarter started rough with a 3-pointer by the Red Wolves, bringing the Warhawks to a 4-point deficit with nine minutes to recover. After a few minutes of back-and-forth points between the two, ULM finally locked in and managed to tie Ark State with a layup in the paint by Katlyn Manuel, later bringing the Warhawks ahead by 2 points with a jumper.
The Red Wolves got their lead back, only for it to be taken away 20 seconds later by Brianna Harris’ field goal. With two minutes remaining on the clock, the Warhawks began a scoring run that lasted until the end of the match.
With less than a minute on the clock, the Red Wolves took a timeout to regroup and plan their next actions. Unfortunately for them, the Warhawks shut down any offense the Red Wolves had.
Johnson’s steal set up Bradford for a layup to ice the game. 30 seconds later, the final buzzer sounded and ULM earned another conference victory.
