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Naelyn Rios
Trent Spruell | Trent S. Photography
82
Winner West Ala. WA 6-3,2-2 Gulf South
76
Shorter Short 0-7,0-3 Gulf South
Winner
West Ala. WA
6-3,2-2 Gulf South
82
Final
76
Shorter Short
0-7,0-3 Gulf South
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
West Ala. WA 21 23 16 22 82
Shorter Short 20 11 20 25 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Tigers Hold Off Shorter Rally for First GSC Victory

ROME, Ga. – The Shorter University Lady Hawks did everything they could in the second half to rally from a 13-point halftime deficit, but the University of West Alabama women's basketball team did enough to hold off them off and collect an 82-76 win Monday night in Gulf South Conference action at the Winthrop-King Centre.
 
UWA improves to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the GSC. Shorter remains winless at 0-7 on the season and now 0-2 in the conference.
 
"We were really worried as a coaching staff, because we beat them pretty good at our place. It's holiday season and it was pretty dead in here," said Head coach Rusty Cram. "We told them (Shorter) was like an animal coming into this one. They're hungry and going to do anything to find that food. They felt like they had a shot and we played right into their hands. We moved like we had concrete in our shoes."
 
Cram went on to say, "Credit to Shorter. They played a smart basketball game. Getting that first win on the road is hard. We did just enough to win."
 
The Tigers led by as much as 17 points with 5:42 left in the third quarter. Shorter battled back to get as close as within three points with 4:56 left in the fourth. However, UWA was able to build as much as an eight-point lead with 29 seconds left to help preserve the victory.
 
 West Alabama outscored the Lady Hawks 21-20 in a back and forth opening quarter and dominated the second 23-11 to take a 44-31 lead to the half. Shorter outscored the Tigers in the second half, 20-16 in the third and 25-22 in the fourth quarter, however the team could not make up the 13-point difference and came up short 82-76.
 
Naelyn Rios and Tazsa Garrett-Hammett both scored 21 to lead the Tigers in scoring. Garrett-Hammett added 13 rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal while Rios finished with eight rebounds and four assists. Zoe Watts also reached double figures with 12 points along with four rebounds and two assists.
 
Tigers shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) from the floor, 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from behind the arc and 80 percent (16-of-20) from the free throw line.
 
Christian Bolden led Shorter with 19 points and Jasmine Gaines was right behind her with 18 points. Tatum Ragsdale put up 14 and Kayla Holmes scored 12 points. 
 
Thanks to a strong second half, Shorter finished 44.4 percent (28-of-63) in total shooting, 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from three and 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the charity stripe.
 
Shorter was outmatched on the boards as West Alabama outrebounded the home team 40-21 and the Tigers dominated in the paint 40-26. However, the pesky turnover bug plagued UWA once more with 21 giveaways compared to 14 for the Lady Hawks.
 
West Alabama is off until January 2 where the Tigers will be in Pruitt Hall Gymnasium to take on Auburn Montgomery at 5:30 p.m. Game links will be available on uwaathletics.com with the contest being broadcast on ESPN 104.9 and Tiger TV-UWA Athletics YouTube Channel. 
 
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