ROME, Ga.–
Toni Brewer had 23 points and 10 rebounds to lead the UWF women's basketball team past Shorter, 62-56, at the Winthrop-King Centre on Thursday.
UWF (18-4, 12-3 Gulf South) extended its win streak to eight games and clinched a berth in the 2019 GSC Tournament. The Argonauts shot 40 percent from the floor and were 12-of-14 at the free throw line.
Brewer recorded her 16th double-double of the season and raised her scoring average to 17.6 points per game, tying her with teammate
Halee Nieman for the GSC lead. Nieman had 16 points with a career-high four 3-pointers and three rebounds on Thursday.
UWF closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run and quickly extended it to 14-0 and led 23-11 one minute into the second. But the Hawks fought back when four different Argos picked up two fouls and sat the remainder of the first half. Shorter outscored the UWF 22-8 over the final nine minutes to lead 33-31 at the half.
With the full rotation at her disposal without foul concerns, head coach
Stephanie Lawrence Yelton was able to use her stars to take over in the second half. Brewer was the primary beneficiary after scoring just four points and four rebounds in eight minutes due to her foul issues, had 19 points and six rebounds with zero fouls in 20 second half minutes.
Her ability to draw defenders inside allowed Nieman and
Belle Bistrow to make four of their seven 3-pointers in the second half. The Argonauts finished with eight triples in the contest.
UWF held Shorter to seven points in the third quarter while building a 45-40 lead. The lead grew to nine before the Hawks trimmed it to one at 55-54 with 3:40 to play. But the Argos made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to keep the Hawks at bay. Brewer scored UWF's last five points and seven of it's final nine.
Shorter (1-20, 0-14) shot 41 percent and had 21 points off 22 UWF turnovers. Jasmine Gaines and Raven Fair had 18 points each to lead the Hawks.
UWF will wrap-up its 3-game road trip on Saturday when it heads an hour south to Carrollton, Ga., to face West Georgia (12-8, 7-7) on Saturday. Tip-off at the UWG Coliseum is set for 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
