Box Score LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team opened the 2015-2016 regular season with a 66-64 non-conference road loss to the University of West Alabama (UWA) Lady Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Pruitt Hall Gymnasium despite a valiant second half comeback from as much as a 10-point hole in the first half.

The Lady Tigers (1-0) grabbed a quick 10-4 lead seven minutes into a defense-oriented first period, but two consecutive 3-point baskets by junior Derrica Chambers and sophomore Jennifer Clark remedied that situation to tie the game at 10-10. A buzzer beater 3-pointer by UWA handed the Lady Tigers a 16-12 advantage heading to the second period where UWA earned the first five points to build a 21-12 lead.

At halftime, the Badgers trailed 33-26, but a 3-pointer and a fast break layup by senior guard Armanee Broussard cut the SHC deficit to 34-32 at 6:08 of the third period. Back-to-back layups by junior Camry Johnson and Clark gave the Badgers a 38-36 lead at 3:47, but Moejha Calmes of the Lady Tigers put UWA back up 44-40 with a bucket and an assist to Marianne Ward at 2:30. By the 7:05 mark of the fourth period, UWA held a 54-51 lead, but senior guard Natalie Harper drained two 3-point baskets sandwiched around a UWA trey to make it a 59-59 contest with 2:40 showing on the clock.

At 1:35, Latisha McCullum of UWA sank two free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 63-61 lead, but junior Brittney Davis tied the game with a bucket at the one-minute mark and a free throw by SHC freshman Amee Smith made it a 64-63 Badger lead. Catherine Taylor of the Lady Tigers would knot the game at 64-64 with a midcourt steal and 1-of-2 free throw performance at 29 seconds remaining. Taylor's layup with 4.1 seconds left put UWA up 66-64 and a final Badger layup attempt at the buzzer rolled off the back iron to end a hard-fought effort by the SHC ladies.

After the game, SHC head coach Karen McConico was pleased with her team's effort late in the game, but was far from happy with the final result. "We let one get away," she said. "We missed a lot of easy layups and free throws - 11 missed free throws. In order for us to be a good team we need to capitalize on those opportunites. The good thing is that they (UWA) come back to our house on Friday night and we are looking forward to it."

Johnson paced the balanced Badger offense with 12 points while center Leah Washington hauled down 14 rebounds. As a team, SHC shot 35.8% (24-67) from the field and made 6-of-22 (27.3%) 3-points attempts, but struggled at the free throw line going 10-of-21 (47.6%) at the charity stripe. Under the baskets, the Lady Tigers out-rebounded the Badgers 46-40. Spring Hill lost 18 turnovers against 11 steals by UWA, but the Lady Tigers fumbled the ball away 25 times to nine Badger steals. Opportunistically, SHC converted 28 points off turnovers and limited UWA to just 10 points off turnovers.

McCullum scored 14 points to lead the Lady Tigers as UWA shot 41.4% (24-58) overall, including 50% (3-6) in 3-point attempts.

The Badgers (0-1) will next travel the short distance down Old Shell Road to the USA Mitchell Center on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. to face the University of South Alabama (USA) Lady Jags (0-0) in an exhibition contest.