PENSACOLA, Fla. – Junior Alex Coyne scored 19 points with seven assists and four steals to lead the West Florida women's basketball team to a 57-54 win over No. 22/16 and previously undefeated Delta State at the UWF Field House Saturday afternoon.
 
UWF (6-4, 4-2 Gulf South Conference) finished the 2015 portion of the season on a three-game winning streak and collected its fourth-consecutive over the Lady Statesmen. The win also marked the third in seven tries over a ranked opponent in four seasons under Stephanie Lawrence Yelton.
 
The Argos shot 44 pct and were 5 of 12 from outside. UWF did struggle at the free throw line, making just 8 of 19 for a season-low 42 pct.
 
Junior Katie Bobos finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, while classmate Kelly Preston added nine and eight, and sophomore Courtney Meyer chipped in eight and nine.
 
DSU (8-1, 5-1) got 16 points from Chelsey Rhodes and 11 from Aspriona Gilbert off the bench. The Lady Statesmen shot 40 pct.
 
The Lady Statesmen got out to an early 8-4 margin following some quick scoring from Rhodes who had four in the first 4:35. But UWF closed the quarter on a 14-2 run for an 18-10 lead. The Argos didn't stop there, stretching the advantage to 26-12 with an 8-2 run in the first three minutes of the second frame. DSU responded with 12 unanswered to pull within a pair, 26-24, before UWF took a 32-27 lead into the half.
 
The UWF margin stayed between three and 6 points for much of the third quarter and the opening portion of the fourth before another run created some distance between the teams. The Argos got a layup from Coyne and a bucker from Bobos to stake a 51-43 lead with 5:15 to play.
 
DSU trimmed the deficit to three 2:30 later before Coyne fed Bobos for a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer to stretch the cushion back to a comfortable 56-48 score with 1:11 in the game.
 
UWF will return to play the opening weekend of January 2016, with road contests at No. 9 Union (11-1, 5-1) on Saturday, Jan.2 and Christian Brothers (4-5, 2-4) two days later.