COLUMBUS — Mississippi University for Women women’s basketball was punching above its weight on Saturday afternoon against Greenville.
The Owls, looking to secure a spot in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) tournament later this month, had a great shot to finish its home schedule with a bang.
MUW trailed 63-62 going into the fourth quarter, but it had the lead for a good portion of the first and second half, stretching it out to as many as nine points in the third quarter.
That momentum flipped on its head as the Panthers turned on the afterburners, outscoring The W, 21-11, in the fourth to steal a road win inside Pohl Gymnasium, 84-73.
“A large part of it was just we were not making shots,” head coach Drew Johnson said. “It’s possible that we became fatigued down the stretch. … When they ramped things up and we were tired, outside of Claire Leak, we really couldn’t get anything to fall.”
Three players for the Owls (7-13, 6-10 SLIAC) finished in double-figures, all with 19 points, including Leak, but where shooting was a plus earlier in the game, that didn’t translate into the fourth quarter.
The W shot just 4-of-14 from the field in the fourth compared to 9-of-17 from the field for Greenville, who not only played more consistently to the end, but had more bodies to spread out playing time.
The Owls kept pace and had moments to make a statement earlier in the game, but they allowed the Panthers to get back into it and take control.
“We forced shots in transition and they were scoring off our misses,” Leak said. “It felt like they were scoring every time down the court and we just weren’t getting back.”
Leak was certainly a bright spot in the loss, shooting 5-of-6 from deep on her way to a 19-point day, and overall, offensive efficiency was solid for the Owls, shooting 46.4 percent from the field and an impressive 50 percent (13-of-26) from deep.
Unfortunately, Greenville made a run in the fourth and The W couldn’t keep up, leaving two games left against the top two teams in the SLIAC to salvage some momentum going into what the team hopes to be a conference tournament run.
“Moving forward, we just need to win,” Johnson said. “Webster will be a tough task. They’re a top-25 team, but Westminster is definitely a winnable game for us, especially now that we’re finally back to being full strength.”
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