PULASKI, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee Southern women's basketball hosted, despite frigid and snowy conditions, Southern States Athletic Conference foe Loyola on Saturday. The Firehawks and WolfPack duked it out as UTS fell 76-69. UT Southern fell to 5-6 overall and 4-3 in league play.
Four Firehawks tallied double figures in points. Ashley Dickey led all scorers with 17 points. Takiyah Goff contributed 13 points coming off the bench. Daysha Reid added 12 points. Silkiari Vazquez-Troche tossed in 11 points, nine rebounds, and 12 assists.
After a pair of ties in the first three minutes, Loyola took a slim 6-4 lead. UT Southern took a slim lead at 10-6. Later in the quarter UTS would outscore LU 6-2 in the final three minutes to lead 16-12 after one. UTS shot 7-21(33%) from the field and made the lone long range shot of the quarter. The Firehawks had three players score in the opening 10 minutes, Reid had six, Dickey and Vazquez-Troche each scored five. The Firehawk defense pestered the WolfPack forcing 10 first quarter turnovers, including a five-second violation in the final minute under the LU basket.
UTS jumped out to an eight-point advantage after a pair of quarter opening field goals by Vazquez-Troche and Kassidy Broussard. The visitors would pull back to within one late in the quarter. UTS answered back with a layup by Dickey and a pair of Broussard charity shots. UTS led 33-28 at the half. The Firehawks shot 6-20 (30%) in the quarter and forced eight more LU mistakes. Dickey led all scorers halfway through with 11 points.
 In the third quarter, LU began to shake off the chill and outscored the Firehawks 22-19. UT Southern stretched out their lead back to eight with five minutes left in the period. UTS would hold on to a 52-50 lead after a LU 15-9 run to close out the third. UTS shot 7-19 (37%) in the quarter with two big triples from Takiyah Goff and another long range bomb from Alexis Halley.
In the final quarter, the game would be tied at 54 each with nine minutes to play. The Firehawks pushed their lead back to four on three different occasions over the nest five minutes, but LU retook the lead 64-62 with three minutes left. As the WolfPack began to pull away, the Firehawks were right on their heels trailing 70-69 with 40 seconds left. LU scored the final five points to escape with a win.
BY THE NUMBERS
32.9 – UTS shot 27-82 for 32.9 percent out shot by the Wolfpack 23-50 (46.0%).
9 – UTS connected on nine of 15 free throws, to Loyola's 26 of 31 from the foul line.
41 – The Firehawks pulled down 41 rebounds in the game, seven less than LU
17 – UT Southern had 17 assists, Vazquez-Troche contributed 12 of them.
12 – UTS scored 12 points on breakaway plays, four more than Loyola.
14 – The Firehawks pilfered the WolfPack pockets 14 times in the match.
25 – UTS forced 25 LU turnovers, leading to 21 points.
NEXT UP
The Firehawks will travel to Tifton, Ga., to play, SSAC newcomer, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on Thursday, January, 16. The Firehawks and Fillies are set to tipoff at 4:30 p.m.
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