MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Shayla Golden dropped a career-best 29 points, but the University of West Alabama women's basketball team fell late to Auburn University at Montgomery 63-60, Wednesday night from the AUM Athletics Center.
AUM improved to 10-7 and 8-5 in the league with the victory, while UWA fell to 4-14 and 3-11.
A close battle for the first three minutes of play,
Kamille Clark tied the contest at six with a jumper.
AUM, following a steal, came back the other way with a field goal to reclaim the lead that sparked an 8-0 run.
Shayla Golden ended the run with a turn-around jumper.
Logsdon moved it to a 14-10 deficit with a floater, and Golden trimmed it to a one-possession affair, 19-16, with less than 30 seconds remaining. However, the Warhawks responded on the other end at the end of the period with a driving layup to lead 21-16 after the first 10 minutes.
The home team made it a nine-point affair quickly in the second quarter after back-to-back layups to open the period.
Despite UWA trimming the AUM lead to four with 7:37 remaining in the half, the offense got going again for the Warhawks responded with a quick 6-0 run in nearly three and a half minutes.
Golden made it an eight-point game with 3:48 left, but that would be the last point for the half as both teams did not find the bottom of the cup.
The third quarter came out hot for the Tigers on offense, erasing a nine-point deficit with a 13-0 run. Clark event the game at 35 with a three-point play with 4:42 left in the quarter.
Golden gave UWA its first lead of the game with back-to-back field goals off AUM turnovers as the Tigers carried a 44-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
Kaedre Denson made it a six-point game with a layup, but the Warhawks would not go away. A six-point lead for UWA was erased with a quick 6-0 run in about 2:30 off the clock, but
Julia Rodriguez ended the run with a jumper to give the Tigers the 50-48 edge with six minutes remaining.
Depsite a Grace O'Gara triple, the Tigers converted their next four points at the charity stripe thanks to free throws by
Maryanne Logsdon and Golden.
UWA would hold the lead until the under-two mark in the contest as Allasha Dudley converted a three-point play with 2:13 to go to give AUM the 58-56 lead.
Golden kept the Tigers in the game on back-to-back possessions, cutting the deficit to 61-60 on a layup with 65 seconds remaining.
West Alabama's defense came up strong, as they did not allow Auburn Montgomery to hoist up a shot thanks to a jump ball violation and the possession arrow favoring the Tigers.
Following a timeout, the Tigers had the ball with 37 seconds remaining, looking to take the lead, but a turnover ended the threat.
UWA did foul on the next possession as Tian Addison drained a couple of free throws, but the last chance shot came up short for the visitors on this Wednesday night.
Shayla Golden recorded her first 20-point game in a West Alabama uniform, scoring a career-best and game-high 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting. She also added a 5-of-7 mark from the charity stripe and added six rebounds and three steals.
In the third quarter, Golden scored 10 of the Tigers' 21 points in the period and had five of the team's eight field goals.
Along with setting new career-bests in points in field goals made (12), the junior also had new career-highs in steals (3) and matched a UWA high in free throws made (5).
Kamille Clark recorded 11 points, and
Sydney Schwallie contributed five dimes.
Allasha Dudley led the Warhawks with 27 points on 10-of-18 from the floor and added six rebounds. Brianna Sanchez contributed 10 boards and eight points.
West Alabama returns home for a GSC matchup with Alabama Huntsville on Saturday afternoon. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. inside Pruitt Hall.
