UWA comes up big late for win

By By Carver Rayburn / staff writer
Jan. 10, 2003
LIVINGSTON, Ala. The University Of West Alabama Lady Tigers used their free throw skills and three-point shooting to hold off the visiting Lady Buccaneers of Christian Brothers. After a slow start in the first half, UWA took care of business and downed Christian Brothers 60-47.
The Lady Tigers struggled out of the gate making only 8-of-26 field goal attempts in the first half. Despite the shooting woes, the Lady Tigers took a 27-15 advantage in to halftime. UWA head coach Amanda Marks used the intermission to give her team a boost.
Whatever else was said in the locker room proved to be the spark that UWA needed.
In the second half, the Lady Tigers were led by sophomore guard Tausha Evans. Evans, who struggled in the first half, hit two, three-pointers in a row to open the second half. Evans finished the night with 14 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
The bench definitely followed Evans' lead. The Lady Tiger bench outscored the Lady Buccaneer bench 27-1. With 15 rebounds and 27 points, the bench players for UWA got the job done.
According to Marks, free throws and rebounds contributed to the win also. UWA finished the night with 35 rebounds and going 19 of 24 from the line.
With 5:18 left to play, the Lady Tigers seemed to have turned out the lights with a three-pointer by Summer King. King came off the bench to hit 2-of-4 from behind the arc and finished with 8 points.
Christian Brothers and their seven-women squad never gave up and clawed their way back into the game by taking advantage of forced turnovers with a 10-2 run.
After the UWA lead was cut to 58-47 with 1:43 remaining, UWA hit their free throws as they had all night to seal the 13-point victory.
With the win, UWA improves to 5-6 on the year. Christian Brothers dropped to 3-9.