By Brad Welborn, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director; featured photo by Dezmond Jackson, ULM Athletics
MONROE – Northwestern State pushed a streaking ULM team through most of the game on Tuesday night but the Warhawk offensive firepower was enough to secure a 76-60 win, snapping NSU’s four-game winning streak.
“I was really proud of the girls,” head coach Anna Nimz said. “We came out and played three really good quarters but unfortunately fell short in the fourth down the stretch. Against a very good team we handled the ball relatively well and rebounded relatively well. I think if we correct our mistakes in ourselves then we have the opportunity to be pretty solid and very competitive.”
The Demons (4-5) took the lead second after the opening tip when Sharna Ayres ripped the net from the right corner to start a big night for the Australian lefty. She knocked down another jumper just before the media timeout in the quarter to give the Demons a 9-7 lead.
The Warhawks top player, Daisha Bradford, answered the shot with a 3 on the ensuing possession, the first of back-to-back deep shots that put ULM on top for the first, and final, time in the game.
The consecutive triples were the beginning of a larger 13-2 ULM run that put them up 20-11 after the first 10 minutes as NSU good multiple good, and open, looks at the basket during the period but saw them bounce out of the rim time and time again.
The next two quarters of the game were the most competitive and exciting of the night as the teams combined to score more than 40 points each to end the first half and start the second. The Demons shot better than 45 percent from the field in both quarters going 11-for-24 from the field.
NSU’s aggressiveness with the basketball paid the biggest dividends in the second as they converted 7-of-8 shots from the free throw line to help bolster shots finally falling from the field. The Demons scored on three straight possessions near the midpoint of the quarter with all six points coming from the line, including four makes from freshman Jermesha Frierson.
She found an open Nia Hardison in the corner with less than a minute remaining for an open 3 that made it seven-point game, just the second made triple of the half for the Demons. Jiselle Woodson put in another free throw on the next possession that nearly sent the game to the half at a six-point margin, but two offensive rebounds by ULM’s Bradford gave her the chance to complete the old-fashioned three-point play with 0.6 second left to put the Warhakws up 40-31 at the break.
After her game-opening 3 and nine first-half points, Ayres owned the third quarter offense for the Demons, coming out with eight points in the first five minutes of the half. A hard jab step put her defender off balance creating space for the first of her three made 3s of the quarter on the way to 13 third-quarter points.
Her second three but the lead down to five points, and after a pair of free throws from Woodson on the next possessions, the lead was down to three at 45-42. An answering triple on ULM’s ensuing possession from Brianna Harris, who had just two made 3s on the season, pushed the lead back to five, which quickly ballooned back to double-digits on a 11-3 run.
The Warhawks went to the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, quickly adding to is with seven straight points, half their total for the quarter, before the Demons got on the board. A 4-for-18 finish from the field kept the Demons from closing the gap down the stretch.
Ayres finished the night with a career-high 22 points while Woodson added 17, including a 9-for-10 effort from the line.