Dec. 30, 2007
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The West Florida women's basketball team outlasted the Cotton Blossom's of Arkansas Monticello, Sunday afternoon, by a 75-71 score. In a very evenly matched contest, the Argos turned a six point deficit with 10 minutes to play, into a seven point lead with 3:42 to play and held on for the win. Jessie Ivey came off the bench to score 19 points, including hitting four of five three pointers. Samantha Schlaegel scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
West Florida led 39-37 at the half; however, Arkansas Monticello scored the first 11 points in the second half, and held the lead until Schaegel tied the score with a jumper with 8:17 to play. Moments later, Amy Drake drove the lane and scored on a leaning layup to put UWF up 57-55. After Arkansas Monticello tied the score again on a basket by Shakia Sanders, Ivey connected on one of her three pointers to put the Argos up 60-57. West Florida would not give up the lead the rest of the way.
The Cotton Blossoms' got within three points at 69-66 with 2:13 to play; however, two free throws by Jessie Ivey, after she dove on the floor for a steal, put the Argos back up by five. Laura Davis and Schlaegel would combine for four free throws to finish out the scoring. Davis added seven assists, while Drake chipped in with seven points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. The win improved the Argonauts to 6-7 on the season, while Arkansas Monticello dropped to 6-6 on the year.
Coach Shannan Bergen was happy to see her team rebound from some poor shooting games, "we hit some shots tonight when we needed to, and I think we played with some heart today. Jessie (Ivey) really gave us a spark with her shooting, and as a team we played much more aggressive defense than yesterday's game. A lot of times, a good offensive game helps to spark the defense." West Florida shot 50% in the first half and ended the game shooting 46%, after three consecutive games shooting under 30 percent.
Dominique Boykins twice snapped cold shooting spells for West Florida with an offensive rebound and a basket, one in the first half to stop an 8-0 run by UAM, and then in the early going of the second half when the Cotton Blossoms' had grabbed the momentum. Coach Bergen liked the rebounding of Boykins and Schlaegel, "We really went after some rebounds today and it really helped. Sam (Schlaegel) and Dom (Boykins) got the job done inside today and we won the rebounding battle.
In the earlier game of the holiday classic, Henderson State defeated West Alabama 62-59, and both Henderson State and West Florida had two members of the Comfort Inn All tournament Team. The MVP of the tournament was Jazmine Ellis of Henderson State. The other members of the All-Tournament team included: Henderson State forward Candy Hall, West Alabama forward Ashton Washington, Arkansas Monticello guard Tasha Owens, West Florida guard Samantha Schlaegel, and West Florida forward Dominique Boykins.
The Argonauts take on the defending National Champions on January 2nd, when the Southern Connecticut State Owls come to town for a 4:30 tip off at the UWF Fieldhouse. The Owls are currently ranked 10th in the nation, and this is the first match-up ever between the two teams.
