The UAM Cotton Blossoms basketball team posted a win and a loss when they played two games in three days. The loss was to West Alabama and the win was over Central Baptist. The Cotton Blossoms lost 86-68 to the UWA Tigers and
won 80-42 over the CBC Lady Mustangs.

   The Cotton Blossoms traveled to Livingston, AL on Saturday and played a tough West Alabama team. The West Alabama Tigers beat UAM twice last year, both losses came off last second shots from ex-player Veronica Lee. This year the
Tigers used a more balanced attack having had eight different players score eight points or more with the highest on the team being 12, scored by the current East division player of the week, junior forward Ashton Washington.

   The game began with Cotton Blossom junior transfer, Addie Lees of Plainview, TX, scoring the first eight points for UAM. After a Lees three pointer, the Cotton Blossoms had a 8-2 lead on the Tigers. However, the Tigers went on a five minute scoring spree to end the half with a 16 point run, taking a 45-33 lead into the break.

   Despite the Cotton Blossoms trail of 30 points with 2:39 left in the game, they got some great shots from seniors Sherelle Shipp of Wilmar, AR and Shenai Limbrick of Houston, TX to close the gap down to 18 before the game ended. Shipp hit a three point basket with three seconds remaining, ultimately ending the game in favor of the Tigers, 86-68.

   The Cotton Blossoms had four players to score in double digits. Lees had 11, Shipp had 13, Limbrick had 14 and Almeli da Silva of Sao Paulo, Brazil had the game high with 15. The Cotton Blossoms committed 22 turnovers to the Tigers 16, and the Tigers out rebounded the Cotton Blossoms 38-32. The loss put the Cotton Blossoms at 1-5 on the season.

   In the Monday night action, the Cotton Blossoms were host to Central Baptist of Conway, AR. The Lady Mustangs of Central Baptist committed 31 turnovers to only four assists in the loss. They were out rebounded by the Cotton Blossoms, 48-34 and took 25 less shots than UAM.

   In the first half of play, the Lady Mustangs scored first on a pair of Katrina Crawford free throws. Lees struck next with a three pointer, followed by a lay-up from Dodd City, TX junior, Gemma Gibson. After a da Silva lay-up, UAM had gained a seven point lead over the Lady Mustangs. With 9:23 left in the first half of play, Crawford hit a lay-up cutting the lead down to six. The Cotton Blossoms, over the next eight minutes, scored 23 straight points giving them a 29 point spread. At the end of the half, the Cotton Blossoms had a 45-18 lead over the CBC Lady Mustangs.

   In the second half, UAM stretched the lead out to as much as 43 after a Shipp lay-up came with 5:29 remaining in the game. UAM claimed victory with a score of 80-42 at the final horn. Limbrick lead all scores with 15 followed by Fox, AR native, Tasha Owens' 13 and Shipp's 12. Gibson put in seven along with four steals, five rebounds, and five assists.

   UAM shot 13-31 from deep, shooting 42.1 percent for the game. The Cotton Blossoms record bumps up to 2-5 and will travel to Fort Myers, FL to take on Florida Gulf Coast two times in back-to-back games, coming on Friday night and Saturday night with both games scheduled to begin at 7:30 eastern time. The Cotton Blossoms were the only team to beat FGC last year before the lost in post season play. The Eagles are undefeated as they were last year when UAM played them and gained the upset victory. The Eagles are currently ranked No. 13 in the nation in division 2 and are coming off an easy 67-38 win over West Georgia.