Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Louisiana-Monroe
Herd Falls To ULM In Fifth Third Championship
11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University women's fought back from an 11-point second half deficit to tie the game, but it was not enough as the ULM Warhawks came away with a 69-67 win in the championship game of the Fifth Third MU Classic.
A jumper by Shannon Davis of ULM (3-1) with eight minutes remaining gave the Warhawks their largest lead of the game at 11, 56-45. Marshall (3-1) began its comeback attempt with a Tynikki Crook jumper. With the ULM lead at seven two minutes later, a lay-up by Alyssa Hammond cut the lead to five.
After two missed free throws by the Warhawks, Hammond connected on two free throws to make it a three-point game. The teams exchanged two free throws apiece, making it a 62-59 game with three minutes remaining. Following a ULM turnover, Tania Walters connected on a lay-up and was fouled on the play, giving the Herd a chance to tie it up, but a missed attempt gave ULM a chance to take it back down the floor, where they made the Herd pay, hitting a trey to extend the lead back to four.
Stick Harris responded on the other end, hitting her first three of the game to cut the lead to one. The Herd defense forced a missed three by ULM and on the ensuing trip down the floor, Harris was fouled. She connected on the first attempt from the charity stripe, but failed to connect on the second and once again, tournament MVP Jesse Carrier, made the Herd pay, hitting her fifth three-pointer of the game.
Marshall cut the lead to one on a jumper by Crook, but a ULM free throw, coupled with a missed Marshall shot at the buzzer, gave the Warhawks the win.
"Hats off to Louisiana-Monroe; I thought they did a really good job disrupting the flow of the game and keeping us out of our half-court sets," said Herd coach Royce Chadwick. "We turned it over a bunch of times; turned it over in situations where we had the opportunity to score. I thought our execution especially down the stretch when we really needed to execute better was off and that had to do with their defense."
"We just didn't execute when we needed it the most. We didn't have a stellar night shooting the basketball. In the second half, I felt like we got some of the same looks as we did in the first half but we couldn't get them to go down; we were a little impatient and we just didn't play championship caliber basketball. That's what you have to play on back-to-back nights."
The Herd looked to be on the right track early on in the contest, grabbing an eight-point lead midway through the opening half. The Herd defense was the story at that point, holding ULM to just seven points while forcing ten turnovers. Crook scored six of MU's 15 points to that mark while Chantelle Handy chipped in four.
ULM used its press defense to force the herd into some tough shots and its offense took advantage, erasing the Marshall lead and tying the game just four minutes later, with 6:38 left until the half. Crook put the Herd back on top after connecting on MU's first shot from the field in almost five minutes, but the Warhakws fought right back, scoring ten of the next 13 points to grab a five-point lead with 4:27 left in the half.
Marshall fought back in the closing minutes, tying the game at halftime, 33-33. Alyssa Hammond accounted for four of the late points, on her was to 19 for the game, her highest total since scoring a career-high 23 two seasons ago at Niagara.
The Herd never led in the second half, spotting ULM a lead of as many as eight points, before falling 69-67.
Tynikki Crook recorded her second 20-point scoring effort of the season, finishing with an even 20 points, eight rebounds and was a strong 8-of-12 from the field. Hammond's 19-point performance was highlighted by an 11-of-12 performance from the charity stripe.
Tania Walters set a career mark with 32 minutes of play against ULM while setting a new mark with six steals. That is also the most for any Herd player in the young season. Casey Baker scored eight points with three boards and three assists.
Jesse Carrier led the Warhawks with 19 points and five rebounds. She was 6-of-9 from the field, including 5-7 from three-point range. Of her 19 points, 11 came in the second half. Carrier was the only Warhawk to score in double-digits.
Carrier was named the tournament MVP while fellow Warhawk Lottie Moore, who recorded five assists and four steals in the championship game, was named to the All-Tournament Team. Crook and Baker made the team for Marshall while Corin Adams of Morgan State was named to the team for her 23-point performance in the Bears 63-57 win over Tennessee State in the consolation game.
Marshall will be back in action, playing host to Morehead State on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Last season, the Herd topped the Eagles, 83-79, in overtime, erasing an eight-point deficit with under a minute to go in regulation.
