Louisiana's women's basketball team held ULM without a field goal in their first seven attempts, but the Warhawks rebounded to make 50 percent of their shots the rest of the first half and rallied for a 68-61 victory at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe.

ULM (9-13, 3-9 Sun Belt) shot 12-of-24 in the final 16 minutes of the opening half to erase a 6-0 start by Louisiana (8-14, 3-7 Sun Belt).

The Cajuns were led by Alexis Green's 25 points. Mercedes Johnson and Jasmine Barnes joined her in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.

Louisiana forced six ULM turnovers in the final four minutes and used a 10-2 run to close within three points at 61-58 following a Green triple with 53 seconds left, but ran out of time.

Jesse Carrier paced four Warhawks in double figures with 16 points. ULM continued their hot shooting in the second half, making 12-of-23 attempts (52%).

Green scored five of the Cajuns' points on the game-opening 6-0 run. The UL defense held the Warhawks scoreless through the 16:23 mark.

The Cajuns had six turnovers by the second media timeout and ULM was shooting 2-of-15 (13%). The result was an 8-7 UL advantage.

From that point the Warhawks ended the first half shooting 10-of-16 (63%) to erase their early deficit.

UL Monroe came out of the timeout with a pair of scores, the latter a triple from Carrier at 10:24 that pushed the hosts ahead by a 12-8 count.

A 7-2 run by Louisiana was finished off when Green threw an outlet pass to Barnes on the fastbreak for a layup at 8:00 and a 15-14 edge - the Cajuns' last lead of the game.

The lead didn't last long as the Warhawks scored baskets on their next four possessions to take a lead that they would bring into the locker room.

The Cajuns rolled off a 10-0 run early in the second half to cut the deficit to one point. A Green triple at 18:06 and three-point play at 17:00 lowered the Warhawks lead to 34-31. Johnson converted a putback at 16:35 and it was 34-33.

Carrier knocked down a baseline jumper at 16:17 and Sannisha Williams scored at 15:21 to increase the UL Monroe lead to 38-33 and keep the Cajuns at bay.

A pair of free throws by Green with 15:00 left made it 38-35. The Warhawks gained breathing room with a 12-2 run over the next six minutes.

Louisiana is home at Earl K. Long Gym next week for a pair of games. First up is a meeting with FIU on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., followed by a contest with UALR on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m.


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