LIVINGSTON, Ala. - The University of West Alabama women's basketball team fell in an overtime battle to Mississippi College, 69-60, Friday night inside Pruitt Hall. 

The Choctaws improved to 3-7 and 2-5 in the Gulf South Conference (GSC), while the Tigers fell to 2-8 and 1-5. 

"We work and have good practices, but we have to go back to the drawing board and check our matchups. We'll make a run here and there, but we cannot maintain composure all the way through," said head coach Rusty Cram. 

Even at four early in the first stanza, the Choctaws went on an 11-2 run and flipped the scoreboard in their favor, 15-6, with under two minutes to go. 

UWA cut the deficit to six, 17-11, with a late field goal by Kendall Lacoste, but the second quarter went back to the Choctaws, swelling the lead to double figures, 21-11, with 8:40 left in the period. From there, the Tigers started scoring with a 12-0 run to flip the lead back to the home team, 23-21. 

From there, the teams fought back and forth and went into the locker room tied at 28. 

In the third period, UWA got out to a four-point lead early thanks to layups by Kamille Clark and Julia Rodriguez, but the pendulum kept swinging between the two opponents. After a Rodriguez jumper with five minutes left in the period, a Nia Coleman triple on the other end gave the Choctaws the 39-36 edge. 

Nearing a minute remaining in the third, Clark gave UWA the lead with a layup, but another triple by MC, this time by Brett Gardner, gave the visitors the 44-43 lead after three quarters. 

Mississippi College posted a 50-45 lead with 7:30 to go in regulation, but field goals by Maryanne Logsdon and Lacoste quickly erased that deficit, putting the score deadlocked at 50. 

West Alabama used a strong three-point play by Clark to swell the lead to four, 56-52, with four minutes left in the game. However, Mississippi College gave UWA fits on their offense, as the Tigers did not score for the rest of the period. 

For the Choctaws, they had two big field goals by Sky Vaughn and Amelia Bell to even the game at 56 with over a minute left in regulation. While the Tigers held the Choctaws to one field goal attempt in the final minute of regulation, the home team could not convert on a second chance opportunity with 50 seconds remaining. 

After 40 minutes, we were going to overtime, all even at 56. 

The Choctaws' offense came to life in the extra period, going 8-1 for nearly four minutes. On defense, the visitors had a stretch where allowed one final goal in the final nine minutes of the game.  

Between the two teams, there were 11 ties and nine lead changes. 

Freshman Kendall Lacoste led all scorers on this Friday night with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 from long distance. 

Maryanne Logsdon also contributed 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. 

Shayla Golden posted a career-best 12 rebounds and added eight points, while Kamille Clark totaled nine points and grabbed eight boards. 

Brett Gardner led the Choctaws with 14 points, while Karly Ivy added 12 points and five boards. 

West Alabama will wrap up the 2023 portion of its schedule with a battle with Delta State from Pruitt Hall on Sunday afternoon. Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.