Marshall’s women’s basketball team struggled throughout much of Juli Fulks’ first season as head coach.
The Herd started to produce more favorable results late in the regular season, and that trend has continued over the first few days of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
A No. 11 seed, Marshall came up with separate timely defensive stops down the stretch Thursday afternoon and held on for a 48-46 victory against No. 7 Louisiana at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Marshall will next face No. 6 seed Appalachian State at 3 p.m. (EST) Friday. The Herd needs four more victories and seven in an as many days to repeat as Sun Belt Conference champion.
After winning three of its last four regular-season games, Marshall (14-19) defeated South Alabama 73-59 on Tuesday and topped Texas State 68-62 the following day to set up the contest with the Ragin’ Cajuns.
The Herd got off to a slow start against Louisiana and faced a 14-6 deficit after one quarter. Three-pointers from CC Mays, Aislynn Hayes and Peyton Ilderton highlighted a 16-point second quarter that helped MU pull to within 25-22 at halftime.
MU still trailed by three (39-36) after three quarters, before holding Louisiana (13-16) to two field goals on 10 attempts with six turnovers over the final quarter.
A Meredith Maier triple pulled the Herd to within 42-41 with 8 minutes left, while one free throw from Mays tied the game at 42 with 4:57 to play.
Following a go-ahead basket from Louisiana’s Skylah Travis, Timberlynn Yeast took a feed from Ilderton and drained a three off the wing to put the Herd on top by one at the 2:30 mark.
Mays’ layup upped the lead to three, before two free throws from Nubia Beneath made it a one-point game with 55 seconds remaining.
𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗗 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘.
CC Mays takes it to the rim and gives @HerdWBB the three point lead with just over a minute to play. ☀️🏀 pic.twitter.com/hsmdyrjOwh
— Sun Belt (@SunBelt) March 6, 2025
Following a Marshall turnover, Louisiana had a chance to lead out of a timeout, but was tentative against the Herd’s zone defense and the possession ended when Ashlyn Jones’ post entry pass went out of bounds.
Maier then made 1-of-2 free throws, and a three-point attempt for the win from Louisiana’s Tamiah Robinson missed the mark by a wide margin as the buzzer sounded.
Hayes was the game’s high scorer with 21 points. Maier led MU with eight rebounds.
Travis led Louisiana with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting.
Marshall improved to 6-0 in the Sun Belt Conference Championship over the last two years.