s
s
Isaac Henderson
Issue date: 3/11/05 Section: Sports
|
The win breaks a streak in which ULM was knocked out of the tournament in the semi-final round in its last five tournament appearances.
"We shot very poorly in the second half and just panicked," said ULM coach Mona Martin. "We didn't handle the press very well and had a lot of turnovers."
The first half told the tale for ULM holding the Cowgirls to just 11 points, while scoring 26. They held them scoreless for over 14 minutes combined.
The Lady Indians were solid from all fronts in the first period, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 100 percent from the charity stripe.
"We shot the ball a lot better the first half," Martin said. "We also had an advantage in turnovers with them giving the ball up 21 times to our 16."
The second half was a different story for ULM.
The Lady Indians let a 15-point lead slip to just five with four minutes left. Michelle Biley went on a four-point, unanswered run for the Lady Indians increasing their lead to nine.
In the second half, MSU not only outscored ULM but out shot the Lady Indians 40 percent to 37 from the field and 50 percent from the three-point land to ULM's 0.0.
Aishie Banks led the Lady Indians in scoring with 17 points and six rebounds.
Jamie Brown was ULM's only other player in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds. Six of those coming in the second half.
Tara Abdul-Hadi was the leading scorer for McNeese with 15 points and three rebounds; Shamika Stewart was their only other double figure scorer with 10.
The Lady Indians will face second seeded Texas-Arlington in the championship game.