UWA snaps streak, defeats Shorter

LIVINGSTON – Quentinette Odom scored 19 points to lead West Alabama to a 58-53 women’s college basketball victory over Shorter Saturday at Pruitt Hall.

The win was the first in Gulf South Conference play for the Tigers and snapped a seven-game losing skid. West Alabama improved to 4-9 overall, 1-6 in GSC play. Shorter dipped to 4-9 and 2-5.

“We have been battling but haven’t played well enough. Today we battled and played well,” UWA head coach Craig Roden said. “We are a good shooting team when we can get our feet set. We were able to do that today, plus get a good mixture from both the inside and outside.”

The Tigers shot 45-percent (23-51) from the floor, making 14-of-28 field goal attempts in the second half. UWA limited Shorter to just 39-percent (20-51) from the field for the game.

West Alabama committed 13 turnovers, but had just three in the second half while recording eight steals.

“We have turned it over three times in the first minute at times this year, so things were significantly better there,” Roden said. “Kelcia Bufkin played really smart defensively today, taking good angles. This is the third straight good game for her and Jasmine Hampton.”

West Alabama jumped put to a quick 10-3 lead, but endured scoring slumps of 7:19 and 6:28 to trail Shorter 24-20 at halftime. After hitting 5-of-6 field goal attempts to open the game, UWA missed 13 of its last 17 from the floor before the break.

The game was tied three times in the second half and neither team led by more than eight points the entire game.

Shameika Hart scored 11 points, all in the second half, to round out double figure scorers for West Alabama. Alexis Hewitt chipped in nine. Hewitt and Odom grabbed six rebounds each.

Shorter failed to have a player score in double figures. Karisma Boykin, Ieshia Alexander and Lynette Harris each scored nine points.

West Alabama is host to Lee Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Shorter travels to West Florida on Thursday.