Feb. 17, 2007
PENSACOLA, Fla. - West Florida (13-12, 6-4) held off a late surge from Montevallo (14-11, 6-4) to even the two-game season series with the Falcons, 71-63. The Argos saw an 18 point second half lead shrink to five inside of a minute, but showed enough poise to seal the win. Tara Russ (Lake Park, Fla. / Kings Academy) had a career high 26 points to lead all scorers.
West Florida looked to have the game put away when UWF beat the Montevallo press and Caitlin Salak (Mattoon, Ill. / Mattoon HS) drained an eight-footer from the baseline to give the Argos a 68-57 lead with 1:14 left to play. Pensacola's Stefanie Durant of UM hit a three with 1:02 showing to cut the lead to eight. Veronica Jackson finished a lay-up with 40 second left to play to cut the lead to six. Malissa Harris made one of two from the line, and UWF led 68-63 with 32 seconds left. Samantha Schlaegel (Port Huron, Mich. / Bethune-Cookman College) of UWF missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Tiffany Scott (Port St. Lucie, Fla. / Seminole CC) grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. Scott made one of two. Durant missed a three from the corner and Karmeshia Easley (Mobile, Ala. / Spring Hill College) pulled down the rebound to make it official.
Russ scored 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting. She added six rebounds and six blocks. Laura Davis had 12 point on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range. Easley added 10 points, five assists and four rebounds. Abena Bosia had a strong showing on Senior Day with six points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Durant led the Falcons with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jackson had 15 points and 11 boards. The Argonauts shot 50.9 percent from the field to UM's 34.3 shooting percentage.
The Falcons shot just 20.5 percent if the first half. West Florida built a 14-2 lead in the first half, and led by as many as 20 at 34-14. The Argos led 38-21 at halftime.
The Argos have clinched a spot in the GSC Tournament on Feb. 28 - Mar. 4 in Southaven, Miss. The top five teams from the East and West Divisions qualify for the tournament. The Argos are hoping for a top three seed to avoid the play-in games on the 28th.
West Florida hosts West Alabama on Monday night at 5:30 pm. Listen live on AM 1620 or on sportsjuice.com.
