A’Laeshia Adams and Gabby Coleman scored a combined 36 points as the Ouachita Baptist University women’s basketball won its first Gulf South Conference Tournament game in eight years as the Lady Tigers held off Montevallo, 62-52, Wednesday afternoon during first-round action at the DeSoto Civic Center.
Adams and Coleman recorded 18 points each as Ouachita was 19-of-55 from the floor (35 percent) and 8-of-18 (44 percent) from behind the 3-point arc. The Lady Tigers were 16-of-23 from the free-throw line for 70 percent.
Montevallo (8-20) started the game by going 4-of-8 from the field to grab an 11-7 advantage, while Ouachita was just 2-of-9.
The Lady Tigers (21-7) took their first lead of the game with 12:42 remaining in the opening half when Adams drained a long 3-pointer to give Ouachita a 14-13 lead. The Lady Tigers, who went on the 13-6 run, took a 17-13 advantage on a Melissa Richardson layup with 10:10 left.
Ouachita continued to add to the margin after Adams drained another long trey to give the Lady Tigers a 24-17 advantage with 7:52 remaining in the half. After a media timeout, Adams sank one-of-two from the charity stripe to give Ouachita 25-17 lead with 7:25 left.
The Lady Tigers extended the lead to 27-17 after a layup by Haley Griffin with 5:56 remaining, but Montevallo slowly started to reel Ouachita in and trailed 32-25 at the half.
The Lady Falcons kept things close in the second half as Alicia Lewis sank one-of-two from the line and Carrie Parrott added a putback to cut the Ouachita lead to 43-40 with 11:33 remaining. A putback with 9:53 by Parrott trimmed the deficit to 43-44, forcing Ouachita head coach Garry Crowder to call a timeout.
Ouachita got back-to-back 3-pointers by Adams to push the lead to 49-42 with just under seven minutes left.
After a pair of free throws by Adams, Coleman drained a jumper in the paint to give the Lady Tigers a 53-46 advantage with 3:51 left, forcing Montevallo head coach Kelly Ezell to call timeout. A Richardson 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining gave Ouachita a commanding 56-46 lead.
Montevallo had chances down the stretch to cut the lead, but solid defense by Coleman and Kim Beverly with key blocks kept the Lady Tigers on top 56-46. A bucket by Griffin sealed the game for Ouachita with 1:04 left, giving Ouachita a 58-46 advantage.
Parrott paced Montevallo with 14 points, while Shan Jones added 13. Katie Vanderhyden finished with 10 as the Lady Falcons were 19-of-55 (35 percent) shooting and 11-of-16 from the free-throw line for 69 percent. Montevallo was 3-of-21 (14 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
Ouachita continues Gulf South Conference Tournament action at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5 against the East Division No. 1 seed West Georgia at the DeSoto Civic Center. The game can be seen and heard on the Ouachita Baptist University Athletic Web site at: www.obutigers.com.
NOTES: It was the third meeting between the two schools this season as Montevallo took the first meeting, 71-68 on Nov. 22, 2008 and Ouachita evened the series with an 82-68 win on Jan. 3, 2009…The Lady Tigers are 2-4 in the Gulf South Conference Tournament, having won their first tourney game since the 2000-2001 season…Ouachita jumped four spots in the latest South Region Poll as the Lady Tigers are sixth…Delta State is first, followed by Fort Valley State, Tampa, Rollins, West Georgia, Ouachita, Arkansas-Monticello, Clark Atlanta, Arkansas Tech and Valdosta State.
POSTGAME QUOTES
A’Laeshia Adams
“Coming into the game, I just wanted to play my game”
Gabby Coleman
“I didn’t really have a good first half, but wanted to go out in the second half and had fun and play the type of game I am use to having. Wanted to let the game come to me and did that in the second half.”
“We had some key blocks in the final three minutes and it just seemed that our defense turned into key offensive possessions down the stretch.”
