PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team lost a 66-62 non-conference road rematch with the University of West Florida (UWF) Argonauts on Saturday afternoon at the UWF Field House.
The Argos (3-5) and the Badgers matched each other shot-for-shot over the opening minutes with SHC stretching out a 17-13 advantage just at the end of the 1
st quarter.
Apparently having learned lessons from an earlier 72-56 loss to Spring Hill in Mobile, the Argos played a much more patient and pass-oriented offensive scheme this time around, taking their first lead at 20-19 off a 3-point hoop-and-the-harm sequence at the 6:30 mark of the 2
nd quarter. Three minutes later, SHC trailed 25-24, but a jumper in the lane by freshman guard
Zariel Jordan of Mobile, Ala. put SHC back on top 27-26 with two minutes until halftime. The Argos put a 6-foot floater in at the 8-second mark to carry a 28-27 lead into intermission.
The teams used opposite philosophies to start the second half with UWF working on their perimeter shooting as SHC looked to go inside to senior forward
Tiffany Valentine of Houston, Texas. UWF's long distance plan appeared to pay off as they held a 41-38 edge with four minutes left in the 3
rd quarter. SHC would cut the lead to within 1 point late in the quarter, but a series of offensive rebounds and unfortunate turnovers handed the Argos a 49-44 bulge with 10 minutes to play.
West Florida would hold a 1- to 3-point advantage over the final 10 minutes by continually finding buckets to answer Badgers points despite the best efforts of the SHC defense.
The Badgers shot 51% (25-49) in the game, but just 22.2% (2-9) from beyond the 3-point arc. SHC lost 11 turnovers to 4 Argonaut steals and made 62.5% (10-16) of their free throws, but did out-rebound UWF 38-35.
Valentine had 17 points to lead the Badgers while junior forward
Katie Krout of Tuscaloosa, Ala. added 16 points to the SHC coffers as both inside players hauled down six rebounds.
UWF guard Charlotte Elmore led four Argonauts into double-digit scoring with 20 points as West Florida shot 37.1% (26-70) from the field, including 27.8% (5-18) from 3-point range. The Lady Argos scored on 75% (9-12) of their free throws, but lost just 2 turnovers to 1 steal by Spring Hill. Danielle Norquest turned in a double-double performance with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while playing from whistle-to-whistle over the entire 40 minutes of game action.
The Badgers (2-7, 1-0 SIAC West) now take a week off for fall semester final examinations before hosting the Clark Atlanta University (CAU) Panthers (2-6, 1-0 SIAC East) in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) contest in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center beginning at 5:30 p.m.
