Feb. 2, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The West Florida Women's basketball team won the first 15 minutes of the first half, and the first 14 minutes of the second half; however, the Valdosta Lady Blazers defense wore down the Argos in the final minutes of each half. UWF led 22-18, until VSU outscored them 10-0 to finish the first half. Then, West Florida climbed to within 40-37 with six minutes to play, but a 15-3 finish by the Lady Blazers dropped the Argonauts to 8-13 on the season, and 1-5 in the conference.
The Argonauts matched the Valdosta State defense on Saturday, but just couldn't score in the final minutes of each half. Valdosta State has been ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring defense all season, and showed their suffocating defense to close out both halves. The Argonauts defense did an outstanding job keeping them in the game, but the offense was not enough. UWF shot only 31% from the floor, and had 30 turnovers, but otherwise matched Valdosta State evenly in rebounds, steals, free throws, and 3-pointers.
Samantha Schlaegel led the Argonauts with a game high 12 rebounds, along with seven points. Tara Russ led UWF with nine points, while Amy Drake and Tiffany Scott chipped in with seven apiece. Meanwhile, Nina Risto led all scorers with 18 points for the Lady Blazers. Jessie Ivey contributed six points and four rebounds for West Florida, and her three pointer in the early going gave the Argos an 11-6 lead. Karmeshia Easley scored on a driving layup with 3:44 to play in the first half to put UWF up 22-18, but Valdosta State would score the last 10 points of the half to lead 28-22 at half.
In the second half, the scrappy Argos led by Tiffany Scott's five steals climbed back into the game, and were within three points at 40-37, after a steal and layup by Scott. However, the Lady Blazers went on an 11-1 run and close out the game with a 55-40 win. Valdosta State improved to 18-3 on the season, and 4-2 in the conference. West Florida will take on the conference leaders West Georgia next Saturday at 4:30 pm.
