BABSON PARK, Fla. (January 4, 2018) – After closing out 2017 with three straight nonconference victories and four wins in five games, the Webber International University women's basketball team started 2018 off with a hard fought loss to a team undefeated in The Sun Conference. Despite leading the entire first quarter, the Warriors fell to Saint Thomas University 71-62 on Thursday evening inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.
Webber's effort on Thursday saw a big night from its reigning TSC Women's Basketball Player of the Week,
Ashley Perry, who finished with a career-high 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the free throw line. Perry also added seven rebounds for the third time in four games and had four steals for the third game in a row.
Emmarrie Carmen was the only other Warrior in double-digits in scoring as she finished with 14 points on 50 percent shooting from the field while adding four assists and two steals. Leading the Warriors on the boards with a great effort was
Tiffany Zito, who finished with a career-high 12 rebounds while also adding a career-high four assists and two blocks.
Just like it did its last time out against Reinhardt (Dec. 29, 2017), Webber got off to a strong start on Thursday as
Jakia Davis won the opening tip and Zito found Perry for a quick layup to get the Warriors on the board only five seconds into the game. It was the exact same play the Warriors started the game with during their upset win over the Eagles a week ago.
Webber continued to play good basketball in the first quarter against Saint Thomas, holding very early leads of 8-1 and 12-5 before ultimately taking a nine-point lead at 19-10 with under a minute remaining in the period. Perry finished the opening 10 minutes with eight points while Zito had already hauled in four rebounds and dished three assists.
The Warriors finished the first quarter with a seven-point lead (19-12) and a great 57.1 percent shooting percentage compared to only 14.3 percent from the Bobcats. However, the script reversed in the second quarter as Saint Thomas shot 50 percent from the field and held Webber to only nine points on 9.1 percent shooting to establish and 14-point swing and take a seven-point lead of its own at 35-28. Carmen and Perry combined for 20 of Webber's 28 points at the break.
Webber would not be able to get within five points of the lead the rest of the way as the closest the Warriors got in the fourth quarter was to within seven as
Shayla McPhearson hit a jumper early in the quarter to make it 52-45 and then with 7:46 left, four straight points by Perry again got it to seven at 56-49.
A layup by
Breyonna Reed with 6:13 left made it an eight-point game at 59-51 and then another score by Perry, this time with 3:37 left to play, made it 63-53, but the effort to keep it close was all for naught as Reed and Perry's scores came during a 14-5 Bobcat run over a six-and-a-half-minute span that made it a 16-point game (70-54) and put it out of reach.
The loss not only snapped Webber's nonconference winning streak, but it dropped the Warriors' record to 1-5 in the conference and 6-10 overall. Webber is one of five TSC teams still looking for its second conference win of the season while on the other side, Saint Thomas remained one of only two TSC teams unbeaten in conference play as its record rose to 8-6 overall and 6-0 in the league.
The Warriors will look to start a new winning streak in two days as Webber travels south to Miami Gardens, Florida, to play Florida Memorial University in what will be the Warriors' first road game in nearly a month (Dec. 9, 2017 at the College of Coastal Georgia). The Warriors and the Lions will tipoff at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 6, as Webber looks to get back into the TSC win column.
