MONROE, La. – Central Arkansas women's basketball went on the road and secured a quality win Monday night, defeating the Warhawks 61-49.
The Sugar Bears improved to 2-1 on the season with the win.
Laylah Reese continued to play well early in the season, posting one of her best performances as a Sugar Bear with her first-career double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Tiani Ellison put in an efficient 14 points off the bench, and the Sugar Bear defense was on point, holding ULM to 26.7 percent shooting.
Reese posted five of the Sugar Bears' first nine points, giving Central Arkansas a quick first quarter lead that never switched sides. ULM would cut the lead down to two a couple of times in the frame, but never could quite get through the final push to reclaim the lead. Reese tacked on another bucket in the first quarter to get the lead up to eight with just over two minutes to go in the first, but a quick burst by the home team cut the lead back down to three before the end of the quarter.
Jenna Cook opened the scoring in the second quarter to get the lead back to two possessions, and
Linda Amaning cashed in her second three-pointer of the game to push the lead back up to eight. Freshman
Faith McCallop added a pair at the line with 6:24 remaining in the half to push the lead to double-digits for the first time in the game, but once again, a run by ULM to close the quarter cut the lead back down to seven at halftime.
The defense locked in and locked up in the second half, allowing just five field goals on 28 attempts, giving up just 22 points over the final 20 minutes of game time. And even though the offense wasn't exactly churning in the third quarter, matching ULM's 12 points, the Central Arkansas defense was suffocating, forcing tough shots and keeping the Warhawks from closing the gap at all.
The dam finally broke in the fourth quarter, where ULM mustered just ten points on 1-for-10 shooting, needing eight free throws to have any chance at all. On the other end, the offense muscled inside to score all six field goals inside the painted area, adding three free throws of its own to build the lead past the point of no return.
Central Arkansas is back at home for the next game, taking on North Florida in the first game of the ASUN-UAC Crossover on Saturday. Tip-off against the Ospreys is set for 1 p.m. in the Farris Center.
