FAIRFIELD, Ala. – Staying perfect on the road and picking up its eighth consecutive victory, the University of West Alabama women's basketball team improved to 12-2 on the season with a 59-58 conquest of Miles College on Thursday night at the Knox-Windham Gymnasium. Miles fell to 4-4 with the loss.

The win moves the Tigers to the precipice of history as only the 2001-02 team had a better start. That squad began the season 13-2.

Days after being selected for the fourth consecutive time as the Gulf South Conference East Division Player of the Week, Mystee Dale was once again dominant for the Red and White as she recorded a game-best 27 points in the contest. For good measure, the Laurel, Miss. native also chipped in with six rebounds.

The Lady Bears led through most of the first nine minutes of the opening stanza, but with the hosts up by just a point, Dale connected on the first of her three long-range shots to give UWA an 11-9 lead at the 10:52 mark.

Slowly building upon that advantage, the Tigers went into the locker room on top by a nine-point cushion at 30-21.

The second half proved to be a much closer affair as Miles scored ten unanswered points in the period's first two minutes to tilt the contest back in its favor at 31-30 with 17:48 remaining in the game.

The lead proceeded to exchange hands multiple times through the remainder as neither team would enjoy more than a six-point advantage in the frame. For the game, the score was tied nine times and the advantage flip-flopped 11 times.

Maintaining its slim advantage down the stretch, West Alabama was stellar in the waning moments from the charity stripe. Larrenda Rockwell and Alexis Hewitt each sank a pair of freebies, and Dale added four to make UWA a perfect 8-8 from the foul line in the final four minutes to help preserve the victory.

LaShandra McCoy and Latashia Greer both scored eight points to follow behind Dale, and McCoy dished out a game-best eight assists while also collecting three steals. Hewitt recorded a team-high seven rebounds as the Tigers were outrebounded by the Lady Bears by a slim 40-37 clip.

With a 39.7 percentage from the field, UWA outshot Miles in the contest as the hosts shot just 37.1 percent.

West Alabama will now have more than a week off before opening up conference play against Lambuth next Saturday in Livingston. While Lambuth is not a member of the GSC, the coaches of the East Division voted to count games against the Eagles as GSC contests. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m., and live stats and a video broadcast are slated to be available at www.uwathletics.com.