CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team dropped its second straight, Gulf South Conference contest as the Lady Choctaws fell 72-62 against GSC leader West Florida on Saturday afternoon at A.E. Wood Coliseum. MC moves to 10-9 and 7-8 in the conference while UWF improves to 18-4 and 13-3 in the league.
 
TURNING POINT

• Katie O'Neal hit one of her five 3-pointers on the night to put West Florida up 57-48 with 8:41 left to play. The trey opened the gate for the Argos to regain a double-digit lead on its next possession en route to the 10-point win. O'Neal finished 5-for-9 from behind the arc on the night.

 KEY STATS

• Mississippi College got double-digit scoring efforts from three players in the setback led by Cortrice Golden with 15 points. The Memphis, Tenn., junior was 7-for-10 from the floor and connected on 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. 
• Kelley Allen added 12 points for the Navy and Gold. The Puckett, Miss., native also grabbed eight rebounds missing her fourth double-double of the season by a pair of boards. Ashley Minor rounded out the double figure producers with 11 points for her 30th career double-digit scoring performance. 
• Toni Woods led MC on the glass as the Lafayette, La., senior grabbed a team-best nine rebounds – all on the defensive glass. 
• Katie Bobos led West Florida with 17 points while Courtney Meyer grabbed a team-leading 16 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• West Florida raced out to a 12-0 lead to open the contest, but MC answered with a 10-0 run of its own to trail by just two points at the end of the first quarter. MC tied the contest at 15-all with buckets from Ieisha Lacey and Golden with 8:07 left before the half. 
• A pair of Allen free throws gave Mississippi College its first lead of the game, 17-15, at the 7:49 mark of the second quarter, but a Katie O'Neal 3-pointer with 5:26 left before the intermission, gave UWF back the lead at 18-17. West Florida closed the half on a 13-7 run to hold a 31-25 lead at the break. 
• West Florida opened the second half with a quick, pair of buckets to take its second double-digit lead of the game, 35-25, early in the third quarter, and extended its lead to as many as 16 points, 52-36, with 2:13 left to play in the quarter. 
• The Lady Choctaws battled back in the final 10 minutes. An Allen layup clipped the lead to 54-48 with 9:02 left to play in the game, but it would be the closest the Navy and Gold would come the rest of the game. 
• A Shami Goodman jumper placed West Florida up 59-48 with 7:40 left to play.

 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Mississippi College shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line. It marks the fourth-best shoot percentage from the line this season and the eighth time this season the Lady Choctaws have posted a clip of 80 percent or better from the charity stripe this season. 
• West Florida held a plus-nine advantage on the boards in the game as the Argos grabbed 46 rebounds to MC's 37. The Green and Blue shot 38.1 percent from the field while the Lady Choctaws connected on 36.7 of its shots from the field. 

NEXT UP
Mississippi College returns to the road on Monday, Feb. 6 as it travels to in-state and GSC foe Delta State. Tip-off in Cleveland, Miss., is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.