Brimzy, Sutton Combine 34 points; ULM picked up a road win at Coastal, 73-71

CONWAY, SC Kierra Brimzy and Bre Sutton combined for 34 points as ULM rallied from a seven-point third-quarter deficit for a 73-71 Sun Belt Conference win at Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 7. Brimzy hit a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left on the 71st. -All tied and give the Warhawks their first Sun Belt road win since a 58-55 win over Texas State on January 16, 2020.

Overall, ULM (6-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) ended a 22-game losing skid (tied with Bellarmine for the second-longest streak in the nation), including 19 straight in conference play.

After Coastal Carolina’s Arin Freeman opened the scoring with a layup, the Warhawks scored 14 of the next 18 points to take a 14-6 lead on Brimzy’s 15-foot jumper from the free throw line with 4:30 to play in the first quarter. . Gara Beth Self provided a spark off the bench, finishing off a 3-point play and burying a deep 3-pointer from the top of the circle, and Emma Merriweather followed by a layup, out of bounds field feed Qua Chambers, as ULM built its largest lead at 22-7 with 1:43 on the clock. The Warhawks led 22-9 at the end of the opening period.

ULM shot 53 percent (9-of-17) from the field in the first quarter, forced Coastal into six turnovers and limited the Chanticleers to 1-of-9 shooting in the final 6 1/2 minutes.

Coastal (6-9, 1-3) opened the second quarter with a 10-3 spurt and cut the deficit to 25-16 on two free throws by Angie Juste-Jean at 6:27. The Warhawks responded with a 9-3 run to push their lead back to 12 points at 34-22. by Olivia Knight deep 3 from the right wing off a pitch-back assist from Self with 4:19 left in the opening half. The Chanticleers outscored ULM 8-2 in the final 4:04 to pull within 36-30 at halftime.

Of Coastal’s 21 points in the second quarter, 11 were ULM’s turnovers (11 in the period).

Carrying their momentum into the third quarter, the Chanticleers outscored ULM 10-2 in the first 2:49 and took their first lead after 2-0 at 40-38 on Freeman’s layup with 7:11 on the clock. The Warhawks got back-to-back layups from Merriweather and Sutton went coast-to-coast for another layup to regain the lead at 44-40 with 5:54 left. The intense third set saw three lead changes and three ties. Coastal went on a late 7-2 spurt to take its biggest lead at 63-56 on a 3-pointer by Miriam Recarte that exploded in from the right wing with :05 left.

ULM rattled off six straight points as Chambers made a layup on Merriweather’s steal, Sutton followed with a layup and Chambers hit a pair of free throws as the Warhawks pulled within one at 65-64 with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter. . Juste-Jean’s deep 3-pointer from the right gave Coastal a 70-68 advantage with 4:23 on the clock. The Warhawks regained the lead at 71-70 when Sutton made 1-2 free throws and followed with 2:39 left to make the game. Coastal evened the score at 71-all when Deaja Richardson hit 1-of-2 free throw attempts with 1:08 on the clock. ULM forced a 10-second foul with 25.8 seconds left. Brimzy, who was fouled trying to jump in the lane with 4.5 seconds left, calmly sank both free throws for a 73-71 lead. After the free throws were made, the Chanticleers called a timeout to move the ball into the frontcourt; however, coming out of the break, Coastal was unable to get a shot off before time expired. The Warhawks held CCU without a field goal over the final 4:23 of the period.

“I’m very proud of our effort,” ULM’s head coach Brooks Donald Williams said. “We executed the Game Plan to a T. It’s exciting to win on the road against a veteran team like Coastal Carolina.

“Our goal was to keep (Coast forward) Aja Blount below his season averages (16.3 points and 8.4 rebounds), and we did just that when he had eight points and six rebounds. That was a big deal.”

ULM connected on 30-of-57 field goal attempts (a season-best 53 percent), while Coastal went 25-of-64 (39 percent) from the floor. The Warhawks shot 77 percent (10-of-13) from the foul line, including 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter. ULM beat the Chanticleers 37-34. The Warhawks held a 38-28 scoring advantage; and bench points, 24-19. CCU parlayed ULM’s 21 turnovers into 21 points (21-14 edge).

Four Warhawks scored in double figures, led by Brimzy, who made 8-of-15 shooting from the field and his only free throw attempts while matching his season-high 18 points and seven rebounds.

“I’m really proud Turn on Brimzy performance,” Williams said. “He was very aggressive offensively looking for his shot. Kierra did a great job playing to his strengths and that is in the mid range shooting range. He made big shots.”

Sutton recorded his first career double-double, finishing with a season-high 16 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. Seven of those points came in the fourth quarter. He made 7-of-13 field goal attempts, including his first 3-pointer of the season.

“Bre Sutton got off to a fast start and played really well early,” Williams said. “Bre got a little out of control in the second quarter, but he performed at a very high level. There was a lot of chaos at the end of the game, but he showed some grit, leveled the team and handled it like an experienced player.”

Merriweather had his second straight double-double on the road and his fourth of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He also tied a season high with four blocked shots and tied a career high with four pass breakups.

Self came off the bench to score 10 points and hit 4-of-6 shots from the floor, including the only 3-point attempt.

“Gara Beth Self played a game-changing role this afternoon,” Williams said. “GB played hard, came out against passes, and his maturity helped us calm down in critical moments. We’ve been expecting this from him, but you could see it coming because he was so locked in this morning when we looked at the scouting report. Hopefully this will give him more confidence for the rest of the season.”

Chambers scored all six of his points in the decisive fourth Amaya Ford produced six points in the third period.

“This was the definition of a team win,” Brooks said. “We played the second game of the road trip tight Katlyn Manuel’s limited playing time (2 1/2 minutes with finger out of place) and Myca Trail out injured. Qua Chambers and Amaya Ford impressed from the bench, especially in the second half.”

Richardson led Coastal with 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-5 3s. The Chanticleers also got 14 points from Freeman and 10 points from Juste-Jean.

ULM continues its four-game Sun Belt Conference road trip next week at Troy on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m., and at Southern Miss on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.