ULM fights for final tournament spot

The Sun Belt women’s basketball tournament is set to start on March 11 in New Orleans for the majority of the conference.

ULM isn’t in that majority.

The Warhawks don’t have the luxury to wait until next week. Their postseason starts now.

ULM meets Georgia State Thursday night inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum each fighting for a trip to the Sun Belt conference tournament. The Warhawks (11-16, 7-11) and the Lady Panthers (12-15, 7-11) are tied for the eighth and final slot in the field.

“It’s a must-win tomorrow night. There’s no other way to slice it,” ULM women’s basketball coach Jeff Dow said. “You can look at all the potential scenarios for Saturday but they don’t mean anything if we don’t get this one.”

ULM could finish as high as seventh or low as ninth in the conference depending on how things play out this week against Georgia State on Thursday and Texas State on Saturday. Appalachian State is just one game ahead of the Warhawks and Lady Panthers at 8-10 in league play.

Georgia State beat ULM 80-72 in the first meeting of the season in Atlanta. Freshman guard Chelsea Tieuel hit a 3 that pulled the Warhawks within one with 1:33 remaining, but the Lady Panthers sealed the win with free throws.

Georgia State’s Makeba Ponder is second in the Sun Belt in 3-point shooting at 40 percent on the year. Senior center Brittany Logan had 15 points and 16 rebounds against the Warhawks.

Dow said guarding Ponder on the perimeter and battling down low with Logan will be critical against Georgia State.

“We’re going to have to be at the top of our game to keep her from getting going,” Dow said. “For the most part we’ve been pretty good rebounding this year and were actually leading the league in offensive rebounding percentage.”

ULM ranks third in the conference in rebounding margin at plus-two despite only having one player in the top-ten in rebounding. Center Sharnice Brooks is tenth in the Sun Belt in rebounding and second in blocked shots.

Dow has experimented recently with bigger lineups that feature Brooks at the ‘five’ and put Alayshia Hunter on the floor at the ‘four’ and Christina Gray at the ‘three.’

“There’s obviously of work to be done on our end but it’s exciting to still essentially be controlling our own destiny for the conference tournament,” Dow said. “We’re still playing relevant ball going into March and I’m proud our players get to experience that.”

Tipoff is set for 5:15. The game can be heard on KLIP 105.3 FM.

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