MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Christian Brothers University rallied back from an 11 point deficit in the second half to edge out a 72-70 victory over West Alabama women's basketball in Gulf South Conference action at Canale Arena on Thursday.

With the score tied in the final three seconds, CBU's Samantha Reeves was sent to the free throw line having being fouled on a missed layup. She sank both attempts to give the Bucs their second lead of the second half as well as victory.  

Christian Brothers improves to 8-12 overall and 6-10 in GSC. West Alabama drops to 7-13 and 4-12.

Ariel Wilson and Catherine Taylor combined for 43 of UWA's total points. They accounted for 30 of West Alabama's 38 first half points. Taylor led with 23 total points, sinking 8-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-9 from beyond the 3-point arc. Wilson posted 20 points hitting seven of her 15 field goal attempts, and 3-of-7 three-pointers.

Maintaining a three point lead through the opening five minutes, the Tigers fell behind to 17-16 at the end of the first quarter. CBU built up its largest lead of the half to eight points with 7:45 left in the second quarter, but UWA rallied back through three late lead changes to lead 38-31 at the half.

At the break, the Tigers had combined to shoot 14-of-27 (52 percent) from the field and 5-of-8 (62 percent) from behind the arc. The Buccaneers hit only 10 of their 29 attempts (34 percent) from the field.  

The Tigers maintained its lead throughout the third quarter building up to its largest lead of 11 points with three minutes left in the period. In the fourth, CBU rallied back to capture its first lead of the second half with under three minutes to left in the game. After three more lead changes, the Bucs tied the game at 70-70 with one minute left to play on a 3-pointer from Ashley Schaefer.

"Our bench points and post production really cost us tonight," said UWA head coach Rusty Cram.

"We got tired late and we didn't get enough out of our bench. That's what ended up really costing us. They beat us 18-5 in bench points, which is something that has usually benefitted us in the past. We couldn't guard our shadow tonight and we gave up too many second chance points on their late run. They did what they had to do to win and we didn't. That was the difference. Our performance was still better tonight, but we just let down in aspects we couldn't afford to."

Samantha Reeves finished with 18 points; 17 in the second half. She was 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-5 at the free throw line. Schaefer finished with 16 points, hitting 6-of-12 and 2-of-3 three-point field goals.

The Tigers gave up only three points on turnovers, while adding 11 points on CBU turnovers. The Bucs led the rebounding effort 35-27.

UWA finished 25-of-54 from the field (46 percent) and 11-of-23 behind the 3-point line. The Buccaneers went 26-of-59 (44 percent) and 8-of-21 (38 percent).

Peyton Parker sank all five of her field goal attempts, including one 3-point field goal, to total her second highest scoring performance of 11 points.

West Alabama women's hoops remain on the road to take on Union University on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. in Jackson, Tenn.