The Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball team couldn’t recover from a slow start to the second half as the Lady Tigers fell, 67-64, Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament to West Georgia at the DeSoto Civic Center.
Ouachita (21-8) trailed 65-59 with 1:21 and after a timeout, Gabby Coleman was sent to the free-throw line, sinking 1-of-2, to cut the deficit to 65-60. But Ouachita fouled after the Coleman miss and Valeisa Crenshaw drained both shots at the line to give West Georgia a 67-60 advantage with 1:17 left.
A’Laeshia Adams went to the line with 58 seconds left and she drained a pair to keep the game close, 67-62. After a turnover, Ouachita had three chances to try to cut into the lead, but the Lady Tigers missed three straight 3-point attempts before Angela Colliver scored on a putback with eight-tenths of a second remaining.
Domino Miller and Colliver paced the Lady Tigers with 16 points each as Ouachita was 22-of-64 (34 percent) shooting and 8-of-22 (36 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
West Georgia (22-6) began the game on a 9-2 run after a Dominic Crawford jumper with 16:41 remaining in the opening half. Ouachita went inside to halt the Lady Wolves run as Angela Colliver scored on a jumper and a free throw with 15:55 left to cut West Georgia’s lead to 9-5.
The Lady Tigers tied the game at 11 with 13:30 left on a putback by Kim Beverly and Miller’s 3-pointer with 12:17 remaining gave Ouachita a 14-13 advantage.
Ouachita continued to shoot the ball extremely well and after a Maranda Parker fastbreak layup, the
Lady Tigers had a 23-15 lead with 9:18 left. However, West Georgia clawed its way back into the game and grabbed a 24-23 advantage after a Crawford layup. But a 3-pointer by Miller, her third of the first half, gave Ouachita a 26-24 lead with 6:04 remaining.
Both teams played well down the stretch in the opening half and the teams went to the break tied at 35.
The Lady Wolves began the second half much like they did in the first half on a 6-0 run to grab a 41-35 advantage through the first two and a half minutes before Gabby Coleman drained a jumper with 17:30 left in the game.
However, Tia Jackson scored on a layup and added a free throw to give West Georgia a 44-37 advantage with 16:30 remaining. A 3-pointer by Jackson with 12:22 left gave the Lady Wolves, who had outscored the Lady Tigers, 16-6, through the first six minutes, a 51-41 lead.
Ouachita started to reel in West Georgia as Colliver sank two free throws and on the next Lady Tigers possession, she scored on a layup, than added free throw to cut the Lady Wolves lead to 51-46 with 11:05 remaining.
The Lady Tigers cut the deficit to 54-49 after a trey by Miller with 9:19 left, but Alexis Pace scored at the other end by West Georgia. Ouachita got a big 3-pointer by Melissa Richardson with 8:36 remaining, but Huff drained a key 3-pointer to give the Lady Wolves a 59-52 advantage with 8:23 left.
West Georgia had a 64-52 lead until Beverly drained a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to 64-55 with 5:30 remaining. Parker sank a three and was fouled as she knocked down the free throw for the four-point play, cutting the Lady Wolves margin to 64-59 with 3:41 left.
Cranford led the Lady Wolves with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Huff finished with a double-double, 18 points and 12 boards. Jackson added 11 points as West Georgia was 25-of-59 (42 percent) from the floor and 14-of-18 (78 percent) from the free-throw line.
NOTES: The last time these two teams met was in the 2007-2008 season as West Georgia defeated Ouachita, 72-60, in Pensacola, Fla…Domino Miller led Ouachita at the half with 13 points…The Lady Tigers must now await the at-large bid for the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament as the selection show is Sunday.
