CLEVELAND, Miss. – The University of West Alabama women's basketball team had a 26-19 halftime lead, but Delta State University erased that with a strong fourth quarter to defeat the Tigers, 57-51, Saturday afternoon from the Walter Sillers Coliseum. 

The Lady Statesmen improve their record to 12-11 and 10-9 in the Gulf South Conference. The Tigers fall to 5-18 and 4-15. 

Late in the first quarter, after a Wakiryah Daniels 3-pointer to make it 10-5 with 1:08 remaining, but the Tigers ended the quarter on a quick 5-0 run to tie the game at 10. Kaedre Denson scored a layup, and Kendall Lacoste knocked down a shot from long distance to end the quarter. 

The second quarter went back and forth with who had the lead. UWA swelled the lead to three on a Maryanne Logsdon with a layup for the 16-13 advantage, but DSU answered with a quick 4-0 as AJ McCandlis gave the Lady Statesmen the 17-16 lead with 4:10 to go. 

Despite Delta State cutting the deficit back to one point, West Alabama ended the half on a 6-0 run to go into the locker room with a 26-19 lead. 

UWA shot 7-of-12 in the quarter from the field and held DSU to one field goal and a drought of over nine minutes. 

The Tigers pushed the lead to nine with a Shayla Golden layup with 6:11 left in the third quarter, but the Lady Statesmen made it a 37-33 score with under two minutes remaining.

After a cold spell on both ends of the goal, Aliyah Dade forced a turnover and found Julia Rodriguez for the fastbreak layup to lead 39-33 after 30 minutes of play. 

DSU erased a five-point UWA lead in the final period with a three-point play by Grace Watson that capped a 10-2 run in the first four-plus minutes of play. 

Denson restored order briefly by keeping the Tigers with the lead, but Madi Kate Vuncannon's triple with 3:42 left gave the Lady Statesmen the lead for good. 

Delta State outscored 24-12 in the final 10 minutes as they converted 12-of-17 from the free throw line. 

Kaedre Denson had a career day on Saturday on the road, setting new milestones in points, field goals and rebounds. She totaled 14 points on 6-of-12 off the bench and added nine boards in 22 minutes off the bench. 

Maryanne Logsdon contributed 11 points, while Aliyah Dade assisted on four Tiger shots. 

AJ McCandlis led the Lady Statesmen with 14 points thanks to a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. 

UWA will return home to start the final three games of the home schedule with West Georgia at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening from Pruitt Hall.