CLEVELAND, Miss. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello women’s basketball team dropped a Gulf South Conference road game to nationally ranked No. 1 Delta State with a final score of 74-49 on Saturday afternoon.

The Cotton Blossoms played the Lady Statesmen tough early in the first half, leading by two with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half, but poor free throw shooting led to a 36-25 DSU lead at halftime.

 The Blossoms were on their way to a season-low from the free throw stripe, shooting 33 percent from the charity stripe in the first half, but rebounded that number in the second half, shooting 75 percent to pull the team’s game total to 53 percent.

 The Blossoms were led offensively by a combination of senior Shakia Sanders (Chester, S.C.) and junior Andrea Dubose (Hickory, Miss.), both scoring 18 points. Sanders points came off the bench, while Dubose recorded her third straight double-digit performance.

 The Blossoms shot 29 percent from the field and 26 percent from the three-point line in the game, while DSU finished close to 50 percent from the field and 27 percent from beyond the three-point line.

 The Lady Statesmen were led by efforts of starter Jessica Rushing, who tallied 18 points and also pulled down six rebounds. Rushing was 7-of-8 from the field.

 With the loss, UAM drops to 12-11 overall and an even 5-5 in GSC play, while the Lady Statesmen improve to a perfect 22-0 and 10-0 in GSC play.

 The next action for UAM comes Thursday, Feb. 21, when the team travels to Arkadelphia, Ark. for a GSC road game against Henderson State. The Blossoms defeated the Lady Reddies earlier this season at home with a final score of 79-69.

 The game can be heard live on the radio at KHBM-FM 93.7, which will be streamed live through UAM’s athletic website by logging on to uamsports.com.