The Storylines
• The Warhawks are in the midst of their second four-game Sun Belt road swing of the year. Prior to this season, ULM had not had such a stretch since playing six straight away from Fant-Ewing Coliseum (four road, two neutral) in November 2011.
• ULM will do what it can to keep UT Arlington off the free-throw line when the two teams tipoff at 5 p.m. The Lady Mavericks are No. 34 nationally with a 77 percent mark at the charity stripe. They got the best of ULM on Jan. 28 in Monroe with a 30-for-35 showing on foul shots, accounting for exactly half their points. UTA shot just 28.6 percent in that game, the best defensive showing for ULM this season against a Division I opponent.
• Three-pointers were another big motif in the last meeting between the two schools. ULM was held to a season-low eight tries, but also limited UTA to a 2-of-15 shooting behind the arc. The Warhawks have now made eight triples twice in the last four games. UTA's 13.3 percent performance on deep balls ranks as the third-best for ULM in the Jeff Dow era, and since then the Warhawks have had similar marks against UL Lafayette (1-for-12, 8.3 percent) and against Little Rock (2-for-13, 15.4 percent). The Lady Mavs still rank third in Sun Belt games-only in three-point offense (32.7 percent).
• ULM was out-rebounded each of its last four games before posting a 47-31 margin against Texas State on Thursday. It was the team's best margin since being plus-17 at Georgia Southern last season (Feb. 7, 2015).
• The Warhawks held Texas State, the Sun Belt's third-best scoring team, to two field goals in the fourth quarter and none in the final 7:43 of the game on Thursday.
The Opponent
UTA's biggest weapons are its size and free-throw abilities. The Lady Mavs are second in the Sun Belt for rebounding margin (+6.4 average in league games) and No. 34 in the NCAA with a 77 percent clip from the charity stripe. Rebekah VanDijk (6'5) was last year's Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and is averaging 13.6 ppg and 9.9 rpg in conference play. Morgan Hunt is also 28-for-30 (93.3 percent) from the line in league games.
The Series
ULM's 34 wins against UTA are the second-most it has against any current Sun Belt team (UL Lafayette, 40). Granted, 48 of the 54 headto-head meetings came when both squads were in the Southland Conference. The Warhawks are 4-1 against the Lady Mavs since the two
teams reunited in the Sun Belt in 2013. There had not been any previous contests between the schools after ULM left the Southland in 2006.
Last Warhawk-Lady Maverick Contest
MONROE, La. – ULM's 12-0 run through the middle of the second half was not enough to overcome UTA's early start in a 60-50 defeat Thursday night.
“Defensively, it's pretty hard to complain about your effort when you held the opponent to 29 percent from the field,” head coach Jeff Dow said. “Obviously, if you hold someone to 29 percent from the field on your home floor, you have to find a way to win that game.”
The Warhawks trailed by 16 with 4:06 to play in the third quarter before Chelsea Tieuel hit a layup and three-pointer to cut the deficit to 46-35. Aundrea Davis closed the quarter with four made foul shots in the final 75 seconds, sandwiched around Ashley Aune's drawn charge.
ULM capped off its 12-0 run with Daja Chase's coast-to-coast drive at the 7:30 mark of the fourth quarter that got the home team within 46-42. The run lasted seven minutes and 11 seconds until Rebekah VanDijk knocked down a pair of free-throws that upped the UTA lead to 48-42 with 6:55 showing on the clock.
Last ULM Game
SAN MARCOS, Texas – ULM held its opponent to just two field goals in the fourth quarter, but Texas State found a way out and defeated the Warhawks 63-57 inside Strahan Coliseum on Thursday night.
“I thought it was a great effort by our team for 40 minutes, you can't question that,” head coach Jeff Dow said. “I felt like we had some opportunities that we squandered away, but I felt like we had multiple chances to tie or take the lead.”
ULM (9-15, 3-12 SBC) trailed 52-43 with nine minutes to play, but chipped away for the next six minutes. Alayshia Hunter got to the line and made one of her shots to get her team within 57-56 at the 2:50 mark. The Bobcats got the point back, and Chelsea Tieuel sank one of her foul shots to keep it a 58-57 deficit with exactly two minutes to go.
Journee Beard's go-ahead three-point attempt just missed with 27 seconds left, and the Bobcats survived with four more free-throws down the stretch.
Following the Game
Live Stats: UTAStats.com
Radio: 1680 AM
Live Video: ESPN3
