PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Alabama women’s basketball team dropped its fourth game this season by five points or less, as the Tigers (4-7) fell to Henderson State 62-59 at the UWF Holiday Classic at the UWF Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon.

Ashton Washington, an All-Tournament Team selection, and Danielle Baldwin paced the Red and White with 11 points a piece. Dominique Whitfield pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds, as Washington grabbed nine boards in the contest.

Trailing by two points with less than six minutes remaining in the contest, UWA’s Jenni Thomley hit a field goal to knot the contest at 53-53, but back-to-back scoring trips down the floor for HSU pushed its lead to four points with four and a half remaining. The Tigers answered with a 4-1 spurt to narrow the margin to 58-57 behind two free throws from Thomley with just over 2:30 remaining in the game.

HSU’s Candy Hall pushed the advantage back out to three points, but a layup by Irimar Hernandez pulled the contest back to within one with 1:07 left to play. Hall then iced the game with four seconds left on a pair of free throws.

UWA, which led by two at the intermission, raced out to a 39-32 lead behind a 7-2 run to open the second half, but a 6-0 dash by the Lady Reddies trimmed the Tiger advantage to 39-38 at the 13:24 mark. The Red and White responded with a 7-1 run to push the lead back out to seven points, 46-39 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the contest.

HSU pushed against the lead over the next two minutes of the contest, but the Tigers held strong to its seven point lead until back-to-back treys by Jazmine Ellis put the Lady Reddies within one point (49-48) at the eight minute mark. A layup by Terria Davis gave HSU its first lead, since the 2:42 mark of the first half, at 50-49.

The Tigers answered back on a layup from Baldwin to regain the one point advantage, but 42-seconds later a three point play from Chanlee Bottoms gave HSU a 53-51 lead.

UWA opened the contest on an 11-2 run and reached its largest lead of the contest, 12 points, with 12:24 remaining before the break. The Lady Reddies went on an 18-6 run over the next five minutes to knot the game at 23-23 and then take the lead on a layup by Bottoms. Christina Hall would nail a trey for the Lady Reddies with 2:42 remaining, but the Tigers closed out the half with a 5-0 run to lead 32-30 at the break.

West Alabama returns to Pruitt Hall on Thursday, January, 3^rd to host nationally ranked Delta State in a 2 p.m. contest.