BOXSCORE

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Ouachita Baptist shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the second half to defeat the University of Arkansas at Monticello women’s basketball team 75-63 Saturday on the road in the final regular season game for both teams.

After a 29-all tie score at the halftime break, the Lady Tigers (17-9, 12-8 GAC) made seven three pointers in the second half, aiding to the team’s 57 percent shooting from the field in the final 20 minutes. OBU went to the three-ball early in the second half, grabbing a six-point lead at the 17:04 mark on a trey from Monica Williams, less than a minute after Elise Holman’s three-pointer gave OBU a one-point lead, which turned out to be the final lead change of the game.

The Lady Tigers increased their lead to 12 points three minutes later on another three-pointer, this time coming from Kendra Coyle to cap a 14-0 OBU scoring run. UAM (6-20, 3-17 GAC) responded with a 7-2 run to get OBU’s lead back to single-digits with 12:39 remaining.

UAM kept chipping away, getting to within six points at the 8:25 mark and within five points at the 5:02 mark. OBU used two more treys afterwards to get back on top by double-digits with 3:30 remaining. OBU outscore UAM 13-5 in the final five minutes.

UAM’s largest lead came in the final two minutes of the first half on a jump shot from junior Raija McWright to give the Blossoms a 29-26 advantage at the 1:38 mark of the opening period.

For the game, UAM shot 42 percent from the field (22-of-53), 36 percent on three-pointers (5-of-14) and 64 percent on foul shots (14-of-22). OBU shot 45 percent from the field (26-of-58), 53 percent on three-pointers (10-of-19) and 54 percent on foul shots (13-of-24).

UAM sophomore Catherine Puckett scored a career-high 19 points, while adding her second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. Junior Ashley Qualls also reached double-figures for UAM with 13 points.

OBU’s Monica Williams scored a game-high 34 points, and added a game-high 11 rebounds to her totals. Nashia James added 12 points for the Lady Tigers.

The Cotton Blossoms will enter next week’s Great American Conference Championship Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face regular-season champion Arkansas Tech on Thursday, March 7 in the opening round at 6 p.m. The tournament is being held at the Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, Okla. for the second straight year. For more information on this year’s event, visit the tournament home page: http://greatamericanconference.com/sports/2013/2/9/MBB_0209131113.aspx.