HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The University of Tennessee Southern women's basketball team closed out the final double Southern States Athletic Conference road week battling the Crusaders of William Carey on Saturday. UTS suffered their second conference loss on the week falling to WCU 79-59. UTS moved to 9-8 on the season and 8-5 in league play.
Two Firehawks scored in double figures. Ashley Dickey led all scorers with 19 points. Kassidy Broussard added 14 points.
UT Southern fell behind early trailing 10-0 in the first two minutes. Cold shooting continued to plague the Firehawks trailing by as much as 16 in the quarter. UTS put together a 10-2 run to end the opening period to trail 25-17. Mary Claire Pike led the Firehawks with six points from two trifectas. UTS shot 6-18 (33%) in the quarter.
UTS suffered from poor shooting again in the second quarter but the Firehawk defense forced five WCU turnovers and denied them a successful shot from range. Takiyah Goff and Dickey each scored six to lead the UTS scoring. WCU pulled out to a 12 point advantage late in the half, to lead 40-31 at the break. UTS shot 6-17 for 35% in the second stanza.
UTS came alive in the third outscoring the Crusaders 20-16 to trail by five with 10 minutes left to play. WCU, leading by up to 14, tried to pull further away from the Firehawks but a big run late in the quarter put the Firehawks within striking distance. UTS trailed 54-51 in the final two minutes of the quarter. Dickey netted nine points on 3-6 shooting. Broussard cracked the career 1,000 point mark with her eight points in the quarter. In the final quarter, shooting woes returned as the Firehawks shot 3-13 and 0-2 from distance.
BY THE NUMBERS
34.4 – UTS shot 22 of 64 for 34.4 percent, 19 percent less than the Crusaders.
5 – UTS connected on five trifectas, three more than WCU.
15 – UTS made 15 trips to the charity stripe, making 10. WCU made 15 trips making 13.
22 – UT Southern pulled down 22 rebounds, 29 less than the Crusaders.
19 – UTS committed 19 turnovers, eight less than WCU.
NEXT UP
The Firehawks will return home next week for a rare Wednesday night SSAC match up. UTS welcomes Faulkner to the CAC on February 12. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. UTS defeated the Eagles in the "Gump" on November 14, 66-61.
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