PENSACOLA, Fla. – Falling in a close affair, the University of West Alabama women's basketball team dropped a 61-59 decision to West Florida at the UWF Field House on Wednesday night. The loss drops UWA to 17-6 (5-4 Gulf South Conference) and improves the Argos to 9-14 (2-7 GSC).

Mystee Dale was strong for the Tigers in the contest as she finished the night with 24 points and seven rebounds despite being charged with her fifth foul of the game with over six minutes remaining. The reigning GSC East Division Player of the Week, she connected on 10 of her 14 attempts from the field including a pair of treys.

The Tigers trailed at the half for just the sixth time this season as neither team was particularly sharp in the opening stanza. UWA shot just 25.0 percent in the first half while the Argos hit 29.0 percent of its attempts in building a 23-20 advantage at the break.

Behind strong play from Dale – she scored 11 points in the second half's opening 6:22 – the Tigers built up an advantage of six points and enjoyed that lead on a pair of occasions, but the hosts would erase it as they held the lead down the stretch.

LaShandra McCoy appeared to hit a shot with less than a minute to play that would have put West Alabama on top, but she was whistled for an offensive foul, and the Tigers were not able to produce late heroics as they did on Saturday against Alabama in Huntsville.

Finishing as the only other Tiger in double figures, McCoy ended the night with 16 points, and she also dished out a game-best six assists.

West Alabama lost despite outshooting the competition by a 42.1 percent to 38.3 percent clip, and the Tigers also outrebounded UWF on the night, holding a 41-32 margin in that category.

The Tigers will return to action on Saturday when they travel to North Alabama for a 1 p.m. contest.