Pensacola, FL. - The University of West Georgia women's basketball season ended after losing to West Florida in the GSC quarterfinals 71-57.
"We were down 25 and we had three opportunities to cut the lead down to 10 and we missed a couple of shots and turned the ball over and our youth showed", said head coach Joanna Reitz. "This was a big moment, and it took us a long time to settle in and play our game. Certainly, our post players being in foul trouble was challenging, but again the character of each person in our locker room showed in the second half because we never quit, and it is an honor to coach players like that."
West Georgia (13-16, 11-13 GSC) struggled to make their shots, only converting 32.8% of their looks, and were outrebounded by 10. West Florida (22-6, 20-4) made 39.1% of their looks but dominated the boards, 48-38.
Stephanie Torres got the Wolves going with a three-pointer to take a slight 3-0 lead. West Florida would then go an 8-0 run to build an 8-3 lead with 7:48 left in the first. Torres would score the Wolves' second basket of the game with a layup at the 6:14 mark to cut the deficit to three, 8-5. West Florida's Haylee Luttrell would drain her second three of the first quarter at the 3:27 mark and extend the Argonaut's lead 16-9. Junior Aniedi Nsentip would score a layup at the end of the first quarter to cut the Argonaut's lead to ten 21-11, heading into the second.
The second quarter started off evenly for both teams, with each scoring five points in the first five minutes of the second. GSC Player of the Year Jaclyn Jarnot would go on a personal 6-0 run to extend the UWF lead to 32-16 with 2:48 left in the first half. West Florida would use the next 2:00 minutes of the half to go on an 11-5 run before a last-second layup from Sophia Singer at the buzzer cut the lead to 43-23 heading into the half.
Both teams traded baskets to begin the third quarter with UWF holding a 53-32 lead with 4:20 left in the quarter. West Georgia Aliyah Washington would sink her second three-pointer of the third to make the score 59-41 with 1:22 left in the third. The Wolves would end the quarter on a 5-0 run, with a layup from Stephanie Torres, and Washington's third three-pointer of the quarter to cut the UWF lead to 13 59-46 heading into the final frame.
The Wolves and Argonauts traded baskets to start the fourth quarter, until UWF used a 5-0 run to take a 68-50 lead with only 4:23 left in the game. West Georgia would use a 6-0 run to make the score 68-56 with only 1:13 left but that would not be enough as the Wolves fell 71-57 after the final horn.
"I'm so proud of our team, the league picked us to finish 11th and we finished sixth," added coach Reitz.
"We finished really strong and credit to the team, we had some tough stretches and they stuck with it and never quit. They were very resilient and continued to practice hard and we were rewarded with wins down the stretch."
West Georgia was led by GSC Freshman of the Year Aliyah Washington and junior guard Stephanie Torres who both finished with 16 points. Washington also grabbed five rebounds in the loss.
West Florida had three players in Haylee Luttrell, GSC Player of the Year Jaclyn Jarnot, and Jennifer Andrew who finished in double figures. Luttrell had a team-high 15 points, while Jarnot and Andrew chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively.
