LIVINGSTON, Ala. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team dropped its first Gulf South Conference affair at the University of West Alabama 69-64. The setback moves MC to 2-2 overall. UWA moves to 4-1 on the season.
Chloe Roberts led a quartet of Lady Choctaws in double figures with 17 points. It marks the third time this season that the Reagen, Tenn., native has led the squad in scoring and marks her fourth contest in double figures.
Kristen Sampson added 12 points with
Toni Woods posting a season-high 11 points. Sampson has scored in double digits 22 times in her career while it marks the first time in double figures for Woods this season.
Allie Hill, who posted her ninth career, double-digit game, chimed in 10 points for the Navy and Gold.
Carla Clemmons, who recorded five of the team's seven blocked shots in the contest, and Woods provided the effort on the glass. Clemmons grabbed a team-best seven boards while Woods added six rebounds. Woods gathered the remaining two rejections.
"I thought we played hard tonight. Our execution was better," said head coach
Paul Allen Duke. "I was really proud of our three post players. I thought Carla, Toni and
Adrianna Horne all played well tonight."
In a contest that swapped leads 10 times and saw four deadlocks, the two squads stood knotted at 56-all, thanks to a free throw from Clemmons, with 4:42 remaining in the contest.
Ariel Wilson broke the tie with a jumper 20 seconds later putting the Tigers up 58-56. UWA pushed the lead out to 64-57 with 2:23 left to play, but the Lady Choctaws answered with a 5-1 run to clip the Tigers' advantage to 65-64 with just over a minute to play. Roberts' layup capped the run for the Navy and Gold.
After Catherine Taylor's back-to-back free throws extended the lead once again for UWA with 30 seconds left, the Lady Choctaws had one remaining shot with three ticks left, but couldn't get the shot to fall.
MC finished the night shooting a season-best 44.6 percent from the field, including a 30-clip from the behind the arc, but managed just 52.4 percent from the free throw line. The Lady Choctaws' defense held UWA to just 38.3 percent from the field and forced 21 turnovers.
"Defensively we held them to 38.6 shooting for the night and that's a lot better defense than it has been this season," said Duke. "We still need to get better at the free throw line. We can't continue to shoot around 50 percent from the stripe."
Mississippi College returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 6 as it travels to Carrollton, Ga., to face the University of West Georgia. Tip is slated for 1 p.m. central.
