CARROLLTON, Ga. __ Tuskegee (1-0, 0-0 SIAC) opened the season and the
Chiante Wester era with a 59-55 neutral site win over West Alabama, on Friday afternoon in the first game of the South Regional Crossover, hosted in the Coliseum on the campus of West Georgia.
The Golden Tigers pulled away in the fourth and held onto the lead to notch the four-point victory. It marks the seventh-straight season Tuskegee has secured a victory in its regular season opener.
Tuskegee shot nearly 41 percent from the field for the game, while West Alabama shot 42 percent from the field. Tuskegee also shot at 23.1 percent from three-point range with nine made 3-pointers by three different Golden Tigers, compared to a 1-for-10 effort from deep from UWA.
Brittney Bolin led Tuskegee with a strong showing of 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists in 37 minutes on 6-for-16 shooting.
Arielle McElroy brought in the next-highest total of 12 on 5-of-13 shooting from the field.
Sumaiyah Abdur-Rahim and
Mikayla Malik rounded out the next two highest scorers, putting up 12 and nine points, respectively.
The Golden Tigers got out to a strong start to the game, forcing a turnover on the first possession followed shortly by a three from Abdur-Rahim for the first lead of the contest. After the first basket from West Alabama at the eight-minute mark, Bolin hit her first three of the day just seconds later, giving TU an early lead to help gain a 16-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
West Alabama responded in the second, opening the frame with consecutive baskets to cut the lead to five, before Tuskegee got a steal and score from Malik and another jumper from Bolin to go back up nine at 20-11, with just over five minutes in the half. UWA clawed back again to close the quarter, outscoring the Golden Tigers with a 12-4 run ending on an inside score with 15 seconds left, to go into the half with the score at 24-23.
The teams fought back-and-forth in the third, a quarter that witnessed a pair of lead changes and three ties. West Alabama scored in the final 30 seconds of the frame to tie the score at 41-41 heading into the fourth.
Jasmine Manuel scored in the paint for the first points of the final frame, to give Tuskegee its final lead of the game. The Golden Tigers later stretched their lead to seven at 49-42, after another score from Malik in the paint with just over six minutes remaining. West Alabama cut the lead to three soon after, however Tuskegee pushed the edge back to nine, before sinking free throws to close the game and the win.
Julia Rodriguez led West Alabama with a game-high 21 points along with six rebounds, followed by Shayla Golden who finished with 15 and ten rebounds in the loss.
Up Next
Tuskegee will remain in Carrollton to battle host school West Georgia on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcasted on the FloSports Hoops Network.
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