CARROLLTON, Ga. – The UWG women's basketball team suffered a tough defeat on Saturday afternoon, dropping a Gulf South Conference game, 77-72, to the Alabama Huntsville Chargers at The Coliseum.
 
In a tight game that featured 10 lead changes, West Georgia (9-13, 6-11 GSC) could not over come a hot night shooting from UAH, as the Chargers shot 53.7 percent from the field.
 
"I thought they really played well. They had some kids step up and hit threes that don't normally make threes," said head coach Scott Groninger following the defeat.
 
Alabama Huntsville (6-16, 5-12 GSC) hit eight three-pointers in the contest, nearly doubling their average of 4.5 per game in conference play.
 
Couple that kind of success from the opposition with a tough night shooting the ball on your home court, and it was too much to overcome for the Wolves.
 
West Georgia shot the ball at just a 34.8 percent clip in the game and turned the ball over 11 times.
 
"I think it speaks to the quality of shots that we settled for. I didn't think we took great shots, and they were really patient, and I thought they did a great job," Groninger added.
 
The Wolves came out firing, nailing three of their first four shots, and opening up a five-point lead, and forcing a UAH timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Chargers quickly erased the deficit and took a 17-16 lead.
 
West Georgia would lead by three at the end of one, but in the second quarter, the Chargers outscored UWG 19-11 and after a Holly Harris tree-pointer with 34 seconds remaining, the Chargers led by five at the halftime break.
 
The second half of play was just as tightly contested as the first, with neither team gaining much of an advantage. It was neck-and-neck until a mental error put UWG in a hole they could not climb out of.
 
"The biggest play of the game, I thought was with a one-point game and we were just lackadaisical and the stripped us and shoots a layup and we never really got close after that," said Groninger.
 
That play came with 3:43 remaining in the contest, and then at the 2:55 mark, Harris hit a UAH triple that would give the Chargers the largest lead by any team, at nine.
 
"I was really disappointed, I thought mentally, we were really bad today," added Groninger. "Turnovers were a factor for us. They had a lot of layups and a lot of their points came from their steals and our turnovers"
 
West Georgia was able to get it back to a one-possession game in the final minutes, but UAH converted at the free throw line to secure the road victory.
 
"Hats off to Huntsville, they came in here and played their tails off, and I told our team that the team that played better and was more connected won this game," concluded Groninger.
 
West Georgia had five players in double-figures, led by Siera Carter with 15. Mariah Holder added 13 while Ranajah Verdell had 11. Zaria Bankston and Valencia Carroll each had 10.
 
On the glass, the Wolves got another big game from Jaylin Austin with 15 rebounds, giving her 33 in her last two home games combined.
 
Harris had a game-high 24 for the Chargers, pacing a group of four double-digit scorers. Alexis Woods recorded a double-double for UAH with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
 
Up next for West Georgia is a trip to Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday for a clash with West Florida. Tip-time for that game is set for 6:30 p.m. EST.