Lady Jags Score 61-51 Win Over ULM
The Lady Jaguars basketball team rebounded from their 67-47 loss to North Texas on Saturday to score a 61-51 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday. The Jags recorded a season-high 50 rebounds and 27 second-chance points were key stats in the victory. It also improved the Jags record to 11-7 overall (4-5 SBC) while ULM falls to 3-14 overall (1-7 SBC).
“I was really disappointed in how we started the game,” lady Jag head coach Rick Pietri said. “We got a basket right out of the box and I thought that would catapult us, but our defensive energy wasn’t where it needed to be. That bothered me. It took us a while before we got it revved up to where it needed to be. We credit Louisiana-Monroe, because they came out juiced and ready to play. The last 30 minutes of the game, I thought we defended the way we’re capable of, but in the first 10, we just didn’t have the right zest to guard.”
“We’ve talked about how important it is to approach things with confidence and belief,” Pietri continued. We had trouble early putting the ball in the goal when we had reasonable scoring chances. That’s a problem we’ve been having, and it continued to suck the life out of us. We did reasonably well from that point forward, and defensively our energy was where it needed to be for the rest of the game. In the second half, we defended the way our teams defend, and we held them to 29% in the second half. So we take the win and move on.”
Mansa El recorded a game-high 16 points by going 4-of-10 from the floor and 6-8 from the free throw stripe, good for a fourth double-double in the last five games.
Meghan Dunn added 12 points off the bench by going 4-of-8 from outside the arc. Brianna Wright added eight points and six rebounds. The Jags bench outscored the ULM bench 23-9 in the game.
Mary Nixon left the game in the first half after sufferring a concussion when her head hit the floor. Nixon will be evaluated this week for lingering signs of a concussion before being cleared to participate fully in practice and the Jags next game.
Also redshirt freshman Rachel Cumbo, who missed the entire 2011-2012 season and the first 17 games of this season after sufferring a pair of knee injuries, dressed out for the first time in her collegiate career.
The lady Jags will return to the court after a week off on Wednesday, January 23rd when they host Western Kentucky. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05pm in that Sun Belt Conference Eastern Division showdown.