STATESBORO - UL Monroe used a 17-2 run late in the third quarter to knock off Georgia Southern in an 80-62 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory on Saturday at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles fell to 7-15 overall and 2-9 in the league with the loss, while the Warhawks improved to 8-15 overall and 2-9 in the Sun Belt with the win. ULM ends up sweeping the season series from Georgia Southern after picking up a last-second 58-57 win in Monroe on Jan. 10.
A three-pointer by Alexis Brown at the end of the first half staked the Eagles to a 39-33 lead at the break. But ULM hit 15-of-26 shots after the break (58 percent) to pull away for the victory.
The Eagles placed a trio of players in double figures with Alexis Brown and Hailey Dias-Allen notching 14 points and Nakol Franks chipping in 12 on 4-of-6 three-point shooting. ULM had four players in double figures, led by Lauren Fitch's 15 points.
Eagle of the Game
Dias-Allen hit 5-of-10 shots from the floor and all four of her free throws to tie for game-high honors with 14 points, despite playing much of the game with four fouls.
Key Moment
The Eagles extended their first-half lead to eight, 45-37, with 6:21 left in the third quarter. But UL Monroe went on a 17-2 run over the next six minutes to build a nine-point lead, 56-47, and eventually take the win. Georgia Southern was 0-for-5 from the field with six turnovers during the stretch.
Stats of the Game
Even though the turnover battle was relatively close with 14 committed by the Warhawks and 18 committed by the Eagles, ULM had a distinct 29-7 edge in points off of turnovers. The Warhawks also went 22-of-26 from the free throw line (84.6%) while the Eagles were a perfect 10-of-10 from the line, the third game this season in which GS has not missed a free throw.
Quotables
Head coach Kip Drown on the game
"We came out of halftime and took an eight point lead. But we had a wide open three missed, had a layup missed, and then we let their big kid get an offensive rebound and a putback. That's where it started slipping away. We didn't close on a 3-point shooter, let her get a look, then we got into a situation where we started missing shots. They just got after us more in the second half. When we got defensive pressure, we were much better. The problem was trying to keep that intensity up on the basketball."
Next Up
The Eagles travel to South Alabama to take on the Jaguars on Thursday, February 14th, in an 8 p.m. Sun Belt Conference contest in Mobile.