CARROLLTON, Ga. – The University of West Alabama women's basketball team started the 2024 portion of the schedule with a 59-45 loss to the University of West Georgia in a Gulf South Conference basketball contest, Tuesday afternoon from The Coliseum. 

West Georgia improved to 8-4 and 4-4 in the GSC with the victory, while West Alabama falls to 3-9 and 2-6. 

"We did not have any rhythm today coming off the break. We did some great things defensively, holding them 15 points below their average," said head coach Rusty Cram. 

UWA got the scoring going with a Jordan Parker triple, but UWG's defense held the Tigers to just one shot out of their first 10 attempts.

On the other side, the Tiger defense forced six turnovers in the opening quarter and scored seven points on such instances. Despite the slow start from the field, the visitors trailed 12-9 after one period of play. 

The offense began to click in the second period, as Aliyah Dade knocked down a jumper for a 16-15 deficit with 7:36 left in the period. However, the Wolves went on a small 6-0 run to swell the lead to the biggest of the night of seven, 22-15, at the under-five mark. 

West Alabama responded with a run of their own, ending the half on a 6-3 run to improve the deficit to 25-21 at the break. 

UWA, despite not connecting from long distance, shot 6-of-13 from the floor in the second stanza to keep pace with the home standing Wolves of UWG. 

The second half started in the worst way for UWA, seeing points for UWG off back-to-back turnovers to push the Wolves lead to 10 points, 31-21. 

After a quick timeout for UWA, the Tigers stormed out to a massive run, scoring eight straight points on field goals by Julia Rodriguez and Parker. After Parker made it a 31-29 deficit with 5:32 left in the third, the Wolves maintained the lead with a 9-4 run to end the frame.

The fourth quarter was all West Georgia. Despite West Alabama made it a 42-37 deficit on a Jordan Parker layup, a 9-0 run by the Wolves kept the Tigers scoreless for nearly four minutes and the lead for the home team swelled to as large as 16. 

Despite the setback, UWA held UWG to just 59 points, its second-lowest mark of the season, trailing 50 in a 61-50 loss at Christian Brothers on Nov. 30. The 21 made field goals tied for the second lowest by the Wolves in 2023-24. 

Mykah Anderson led the Wolves with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while K'Nari Holliday added 12 points on 6-of-9. Jada Powell led the rebounding with 12.  

Zuriyah Davis, the GSC's leading scorer, was held to single digits for just the second time in 12 games this season on this Tuesday night in Carrollton. She converted 3-of-12 from the field and tallied just nine points. 

UWA was led by Jordan Parker's 15 points on 6-of-11 from the floor with four rebounds, while Julia Rodriguez also tallied double figures in the point column with 12 and contributed two steals.

Kamille Clark added eight boards and two thefts. 

West Alabama will continue the three-game road swing to west Tennessee this weekend, starting with a trip to Union University on Saturday at 2 p.m.