CARROLLTON, Ga. - The UWG women's basketball team had their 12-game home winning streak snapped on Thursday night, dropping a 68-55, Atlantic Sun Conference decision to Eastern Kentuckly University at The Coliseum.
West Georgia (13-7, 6-3 ASUN) shot 31.3 percent from the field while EKU (18-4, 9-0 ASUN) shot 44.1 percent from the field. The stats were pretty even other than that as each team hit eight three-pointers, both teams had nine turnovers, and EKU had just a three-rebound advantage although UWG had more offensive rebounds.
"Congrats to EKU, they played a great game, and they're a really good team," said head coach Joanna Reitz. "There's a reason they are undefeated in conference and have the record that they do. As far as us, we gave up 26 points in the first quarter and spotted them 16 and then lost by 13, so that was tough."
Two Wolves, Asia Donald and Sydne Tolbert, scored in double-figures, led by 18 from Donald while Tolbert added 15.
Joseanna Vaz paced the EKU effort with a double-double, scoring 18 points to go with 11 rebounds.
EKU made three of their first four three-point attempts and jumped out to an early 13-5 lead by the game's first media timeout. The Colonels did not cool off as they finished the first period shooting 6-of-12 from beyond the arc and led 26-10 after 10 minutes of play.
In the second, UWG turned up the man-to-man defense, holding the Colonels to eight points and under 30 percent from the field. Meanwhile, UWG eded the quarter on a 10-2 run, and trailed by just eight at the break.
Tolbert led UWG with 10 first half points, and hit a big three with 42 seconds left on the clock to cut the deficit to single-digits.
Asia Donald would cut the deficit to six on an old-fashioned three-point play at the 5:35 mark, but EKU answered that momentum with a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 16. EKU led by 14 by quarter's end.
West Georgia would get as close as 11 over the final quarter, but each time they gathered momentum, the visitors got a tough contested shot.
Destiny Jones led UWG's rebounding efforts with nine boards while Grace O'Gara had eight and led the Wolves with three assists.
"We didn't shoot it as well as we have been and that certainly hurt us, but we have to have a defense that can sustain us when we're not shooting well, and we continue to work on it, but we're not where we need to be to keep us in the game when our shots aren't falling," concluded Reitz.
The loss ended UWG's home winning streak at 12, and EKU remained unbeaten in ASUN play.
West Georgia is back in action on Saturday, hosting Bellarmine in a 2 p.m. tip-off from The Coliseum.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Sydne Tolbert recorded her 100th steal in the game, becoming the first player since Aysha Harris in 2019 to have at least 500 points, 200 rebounds, 200 assists, and 100 steals in a career.
