PENSACOLA, Fla. - No. 5 seeded UL Monroe used a 17-2 first quarter run to defeat No. 12 seeded Georgia Southern, 78-57, in the second round of the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the Pensacola Bay Center.
ULM (19-10) advances to the quarterfinals where it will face No. 4 seeded Old Dominion on Friday. Georgia Southern sees its season come to a close with a 15-18 record.
Back-to-back baskets by Kayla Thomas and Simone James had the Eagles in front, 4-3, after a minute of play, but the Warhawks' Jakayla Johnson hit a three that sparked the 17-2 run that lasted the rest of the period.
The Warhawks continued the defensive pressure, holding the Eagles to just 19 percent shooting in the first half to lead, 40-14, at the break.
In the second half, the Eagles opened up the third quarter on a 9-4 run, but back-to-back threes by the Warhawks built back the cushion and ULM was able to see out the victory.
Terren Ward led a trio of Eagles in double figures with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, her 16th double-double of the season. Simone James hit 7-of-11 shots from the floor for 15 points, while Constance Thomas added 12 points.
"You never want to be at the podium discussing your last game of the season," Georgia Southern head women's basketball coach Anita Howard said in the post-game press conference. "Today we weren't able to survive and advance. But just as I told our ladies in the locker room, I was really pleased with our second half effort. We were down 30-something points and we couldn't allow that to dictate how we played. We just dug hole for ourselves. Hats off to ULM, I told Missy [Bilderbeck] that she's done a phenomenal job with that team. We knew they were going to come out a little more aggressive because we had beaten them at the buzzer down at our place. But I'm proud of this group. I told them, we had a lot of losses but we also had 15 wins on the year. Sometimes you forget to think about the positives."
