MONTICELLO – Junior Monica Perkins-Miller scored a game-high 21 points to aid the University of Arkansas at Monticello women’s basketball team to a 72-71 victory over Ouachita Baptist in Gulf South Conference competition.
 
The Blossoms (10-4, 2-1 GSC) picked up their 10th win of the season with the victory and improved to 6-1 at home at Steelman Fieldhouse.
 
UAM scored the game’s first six points in the first two minutes and followed with an 11-4 scoring run over the next five minutes to gain a 13-point lead over the Lady Tigers (11-4, 1-2 GSC) at 17-4 with 13:14 left in the opening period.
 
Sophomore Bethaney Turner (Mountain View, Ark.) extended UAM’s first half lead to as much as 14 points with a three-pointer with just over 11 minutes remaining.
 
OBU followed with a 14-4 scoring run capped by a three-pointer from OBU guard Domino Miller with 4:13 left to trim the Blossom lead to four points at 28-24.
 
Junior Monica Perkins-Miller (Houston, Texas) was able to put the Blossoms up by nine points with a lay-up at the 2:38 mark, but the Lady Tigers were able to trim the UAM lead back to four points at the halftime break with a 4-0 run in the remaining two minutes. The score at the break was in favor of UAM by a count of 33-29.
 
In the second half, it was again Perkins-Miller gaining a sizeable margin for the Blossoms with a lay-up at the 15:28 mark to make the score 40-34.
 
Following that lay-up, UAM went on a three-minute scoring draught, while the Lady Tigers posted 11 points to gain their first lead of the ball-game by as much as five points with 13:06 left in regulation, forcing UAM head coach Chris Ratcliff to use a timeout to settle his team.
 
The two squads exchanged four more lead changes over the next eight minutes, ending in OBU gaining its largest lead of the game at seven points with a three-pointer from OBU guard Gabby Coleman to put the Lady Tigers on top 66-52 with 5:26 left in the game.
 
Senior guard Addie Lees (Plainview, Texas) nailed three foul shots after being fouled attempting the trey with 2:09 left to trim the Lady Tiger lead to just one point at 66-65. Lees followed with a forced turnover and dished it to Perkins-Miller in the paint for two points, plus a free-throw for being fouled in the act. That three-point play put the Blossoms on top again, this time by a score of 68-66 with 1:37 remaining.
 
Following that, senior guard Andrea Dubose (Hickory, Miss.) recorded her sixth and final steal of the game, followed by a fast-break lay-up to put the Blossoms up by four.
 
OBU answered with a lay-up by Domino Miller and foul shot by A’Laeshia Adams to trim the Blossom lead to just one point with nine seconds remaining, forcing the Lady Tigers to foul.
 
On the other end, Dubose nailed both free throws, followed by only a two-point play from OBU’s Adams as time expired to seal the one-point victory for UAM.
 
Perkins-Miller recorded her game-high 21 points by shooting 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-8 from the foul line. She also tied freshman teammate Jerica Hubard (Ashdown, Ark.) for the game-high rebound total of eight.
 
Also reaching double-digits for the Blossoms was freshman Taylor Clark (Searcy, Ark.), who scored 10 points, six of which came from the charity stripe.
 
OBU was led by A’Laeshia Adams and Gabby Coleman with 13 points each.
 
The Blossoms remain in Monticello for their next contest. The team hosts Henderson State this upcoming Thursday, January 22 for a 5:30 p.m. contest at Steelman Fieldhouse.
 
Fans can catch the action live on the radio in southeast Arkansas at KHBM-FM, 93.7. That broadcast can also be heard live on the Internet at UAM’s official athletics website, uamsports.com.