Jan. 21, 2008
CARROLLTON, Ga. - The West Florida Argonauts were looking for their first conference win, and had a big hill to climb, as they took on the conference leaders on the road. The West Georgia Wolves, ranked 25th in the nation, and coming off an impressive win over the 5th ranked team in the country, presented a big challenge for West Florida. The Argonauts played very aggressively, and awoke from their shooting slum, but it wasn't quite enough, as West Georgia 17-2, and 4-0 in the conference was just a bit too much.
The Argonauts hung close with the wolves, and were within five points at 27-22 following a Chelsea Patterson three pointer with four minutes left in the first half. However, West Georgia finished the half on a 9-2 run to go up 12 points at halftime. A bizarre start to the second half, in which everything went wrong for West Florida, led to a 23 point deficit only a couple minutes into the second half. However, West Florida would battle back and get within nine points on three occasions, but could not get any closer.
Dominique Boykins scored the Argonauts first six points, and finished with 13 points. Chelsea Patterson had a strong second half and scored 12 of her team high 17 points in the second half. Amy Drake added 16 points and three steals, while Renee' Polk scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. Jessie Ivey contributed with three points, three rebounds, and two steals, while Karmeshia Easley added eight points. The Argonauts shot over 40% from the field, but couldn't stop the talented West Georgia offense, despite a strong defensive effort. Tia Jackson led all scorers with 32 points for West Georgia.
The second half started with three consecutive bizarre calls by the officials, which baffled even the West Georgia fans. Despite the strange calls that contributed to an 11-0 run for West Georgia at the start of the second half, the Argonauts played thru it, and battled to the very end. Head Coach Shannan Bergen was positive despite the loss. "I saw some good things from this game, as we played more aggressive and shot the ball better. I thought we played very hard and competed very well against what is likely our best opponent so far this season. We played defense very well, especially in the second half."
West Florida, 7-11 on the season, and 0-3 in the conference, will come back home to host Montevallo on Saturday. The game is the second part of a men's and women's doubleheader, with the men's game at 2:30 pm, and the women's game at 4:30 pm, in the UWF Fieldhouse. Both games will be broadcast on Stretch internet.
