Blossoms Use Collective Effort in Win Over West Alabama
January 7, 2008

MONTICELLO, Arkansas – Two players finishing with at least 20 points and two others with more than 10 led the Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms to a 101-89 win over West Alabama in the last non-conference game of the season.
 
Junior Andrea Dubose (Newton, Miss.) led all scorers with 24 points. The 5-8 guard connected on a game-high 5-of-11 three point attempts, while shooting 8-of-16 from the field.
 
The other 20-point game came from junior Sharlene Murphy (Coldwater, Miss.), who finished with 20 points and also tallied six assists, which was second best on the team, following senior Gemma Gibson (Dodd City, Texas), who spread out her stats with nine points, five rebounds, seven assists, and four free throws made.
 
UAM jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but was quickly followed by a Lady Tiger run that put them ahead 21-14 with about 13 minutes to go in the first half. UAM fought back to re-gain the lead after the media timeout, thanks to an offensive rebound from senior Shakia Sanders (Chester, S.C.), followed by a successful put-back attempt to give the Blossoms a 25-23 advantage. UAM never lost its advantage, holding its largest lead of 16 points at the 9:30 mark in the second half.
 
Sanders finished the game with seven points and four rebounds, while teammate Latoya Josey (Madisonville, Texas) was the closest Blossom to a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds (six defensive).
 
Rounding out the double-digit scorers for the Blossoms was freshman Erika Brown (Shreveport, La.), who finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds. The 5-10 center was 5-of-9 from the field.
 
The Lady Tigers were led from efforts of Dominique Whitfield, Jessica Thomson and Ashton Washington, who all had 16, 14, and 12 points, respectively.
 
With the win, the Blossoms improved to 7-6 overall, while the Lady Tigers dropped to 4-10 overall. The win also creates a season series split for the two teams, as West Alabama defeated UAM in the West Florida Classic on Dec. 29.
 
The Blossoms now step into Gulf South Conference play at one of the toughest places to play among GSC schools, The Rhodes Fieldhouse at Harding. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Searcy. The game can be heard on KHBM 93.7-FM.