MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of West Alabama women’s basketball team dropped a 101-89 contest the University of Arkansas at Monticello on Monday afternoon at Steelman Fieldhouse. The Tigers fall to 4-10 on the year, as the Cotton Blossoms improve to 7-6.

Dominique Whitfield paced the Red and White with 16 points with Jessica Thompson chiming in 14 and Ashton Washington adding 12 points. Washington, a Lexington, Miss.-native, led on the boards with eight rebounds. Andrea Dubose and Sharlene Murphy each led the charge for UAM with 24 and 20 respectively. LaToya Josey recorded 17 points, while Erika Brown tallied 13 points to go along with her team-leading seven rebounds.

UAM opened the outing on a 7-2 run, but the Tigers answered an 8-2 charge to take its first lead of the contest on a layup by Danielle Baldwin. UWA extended its lead to 21-14 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half on an 11-4 dash, led by Whitfield with six points. The Cotton Blossoms responded with a 9-2 run, knotting the contest at 23-23 with 10:14 remaining in the opening stanza, before regaining the lead on a tip-in by Shakia Sanders less than a minute later. UAM extended its lead to as many as 12 points in the first half on a pair of free throws from Yelitza Rivera before UWA’s Jenni Thomley hit a jumper to close out the opening half.

UWA and UAM would exchange baskets in the opening minutes of the second half, as the Tigers nipped away at the Cotton Blossom deficit, but with 9:30 remaining in the contest UAM reached its largest lead of the contest, 16 points, on a trey from Dubose. The Red and White continued to chip away at the margin, narrowing the gap to seven points on several different occasions in the second stanza, but UAM closed the contest on a 9-5 run to ice the game.

West Alabama returns to action on Saturday, January 12, as the Tigers open up conference play against the University of Alabama in Huntsville at Pruitt Hall. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. with the UWA men scheduled to host the Chargers at 4 p.m.