HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Behind a red-hot first quarter, the UWG women's basketball team won its fourth straight contest, defeating Alabama Huntsville, 76-73, on the road on Saturday.
West Georgia (7-4, 3-4 GSC) returned to action following an 11-day hiatus for the Holiday break and never trailed as they made it three straight road victories.
Junior guard
Zuriyah Davis finished with 26 points, becoming the first UWG player to score 20-plus points in four consecutive games since 2016, and as a team, the Wolves shot 43.9 percent as a field and scored 76 points against the league's third-best team in scoring defense.
West Georgia erased any questions about a slow start after the Holiday break as the Wolves shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the opening half. Davis picked up right where she left off, scoring nine of the Wolves' first 15 points, and from there
K'Nari Holliday scored six of our next eight, propelling the Wolves to a 25-12 first quarter lead.
"Our team has practiced that way yesterday and then in shootaround this morning. They've been very focused, and have had great energy," said head coach
Joanna Reitz. "So, I wasn't surprised how we started the game. We did a really great job of executing our game plan."
In the second quarter, the Wolves cooled off, shooting under 30 percent, but Davis scored nine more points, hitting a trio of second quarter three-pointers.
The Wolves led by as much as 18 late in the second, but the Chargers went on a 6-0 run over the final 2:23 of the half to make it a 12-point, 38-26, West Georgia lead at the break.
In the third quarter, UAH began to chip away at the lead, getting within four before the Wolves stretched it back out to a 10-point lead. By the final media timeout of the game, however, UAH had nearly erased the deficit, as the Wolves led 58-57 with 4:54 to play.
"As the game went on, we got away from our gameplan, and that kept them in the game," added Reitz.
Out of the timeout,
Katelyn Dunning, who had a season-high 15, converted at the free throw line and after missing the second, an offensive rebound allowed Davis to stretch the lead back to four with a mid-range jumper.
With 2:03 to go in the game, Dunning had an old-fashioned three-point play that got the UWG lead back to seven. UAH would have one more run, but the Wolves would shoot 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the final minute to earn the victory.
West Georgia limited their turnovers in the final game of the 2023 calendar, and UWG's defense forced 19 turnovers and turned that into 16 points on the day.
"That's a focus for us offensively is taking care of the ball and taking great shots every time down the floor, and that's an area we've needed to grow in, so I'm proud of that," Reitz said.
Holliday joined Davis and Dunning in double-figures with 14 points while
Mykah Anderson added eight.
Aliyah Washington had a quiet five points, but hit a big bucket late in the game with a low shot clock, and had game-highs in rebounds with seven and assists with five.
The Wolves now return home for the first time since early December as UWG ushers in 2024 with a January 2 showdown with West Alabama.
"We'll take it one at a time. This conference is tough, and there are no easy ones on the schedule," Reitz concluded. "We'll regroup and get healthy and get ready to play West Alabama who is a tough team and beat us twice last year. So, we'll put together a good game plan and be ready Tuesday night.
Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. contest is the second of six games for UWG in a 15-day span.
