CLINTON, Miss. – The University of West Alabama women's basketball suffered a 53-49 loss to Mississippi College in Gulf South Conference action, Thursday night from the A.E. Wood Coliseum. 

MC improves to 9-12 and 8-10 in the league with the win. UWA falls to 5-17 and 4-14. 

West Alabama got out to an early 5-2 lead after a triple by Sydney Schwallie and a Julia Rodriguez fastbreak layup. However, from there, nobody had more than a one-possession lead until the 2:27 mark of the period with a Kyiah Julian 3-pointer that made the Mississippi College lead to 16-12. 

Shayla Golden cut the deficit down to one point, 17-16, at the free throw line with seven minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Mississippi College kept the lead throughout the second quarter, making it a six-point affair, 26-20, at the break.

The third quarter was a defensive battle, as a combined 14 points were scored between both squads. UWA dropped the deficit back down to four early in the period, but a cold spell swelled the MC lead to eight after three quarters. 

The Choctaws had the lead as high as 11 points with under four minutes to go after a Nia Coleman layup, but Maryanne Logsdon dropped it back to single digits on the next possession with a triple. 

Despite the setback, the Tigers were able to hold the Choctaws to one point in the final two minutes of the game, but it would be too late to achieve the come-from-behind effort.

Maryanne Logsdon scored 14 points to lead UWA and added five rebounds and two thefts. 

Kamille Clark added 13 points on 6-of-10 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds, while Julia Rodriguez added 11. 

Amelia Bell led all scorers with 18 points and added six rebounds for the Choctaws. 

UWA returns to action with a road matchup against Delta State. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday from Cleveland, Mississippi.