MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of
West Alabama women’s basketball team
secured the No. 4 seed from the East
Division in the Gulf South Conference
Tournament with a 56-54 win at
Montevallo on Saturday afternoon. The
berth is the fourth consecutive for UWA
(11-16, 5-7) and 15th
all-time. The Tigers will open the
tournament on Wednesday,
March 4 at the DeSoto Civic Center in
Southaven, Miss. against Harding.
Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m.
Valerie Harris recorded her 24th
game of the season in double figures
with 19 points, leading all scorers.
Danielle Baldwin added 11 points for her
11th game in double digits.
Harris and Baldwin also paced the Tigers
on the glass with six rebounds each.
Aureli
Derenoncourt gave UM (8-19, 4-8) one
last look at winning the contest, but
her three-point shot fell short as time
expired.
The
Tigers led by nine at the break and
quickly went up double digits, as Erin
Courington scored the first basket of
the second half. The Lady Falcons, which
becomes the No. 5 seed from the GSC
East, narrowed the lead to four points
with 17:12 remaining in the game behind
a 9-2 run. The Red and White again
pushed the lead back out to double
digits with an 8-2 run, capped by a
Kiara Parker jumper.
UM
would work on the double digit margin
for the next 3:30 minutes, pulling
within two points with 2:16 left in the
contest. Baldwin hit a jumper to put the
Tigers up 56-52, but Katie Vanderhyden’s
jumper again narrowed the lead to two
points. The UWA faithful had to sweat
out the final seconds of the game, as
the Tigers missed the front end of two
trips to the free throw line, letting
the Lady Falcons hang around.
The
two in-state foes swapped leads in the
opening minutes of the game before UWA
took a 21-15 lead with 6:32 to play in
the opening stanza. The Tigers extended
their lead 11 points before heading into
the intermission up nine points.
More information about
the GSC Tournament will be available at
athletics.uwa.edu.
