CLINTON, Miss. – Trailing by 15 with under five minutes left on Thursday afternoon, the Auburn Montgomery women's basketball team mounted a comeback and cut the separation all the way down to one with under a minute remaining, but could not complete the comeback in a 59-55 loss at Mississippi College.
 
NOTES
• AUM falls to 8-13 on the season and 4-10 in Gulf South Conference action.
• Mississippi College improves to 7-13, 3-11 in GSC play
• The two sides split their home-and-home conference series with both sides winning on their home court.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Junior guard/forward Evelina Avleeva scored a game-high 20 points on 7-12 shooting with five rebounds and three steals. She scored at least 20 points in both contests against the Choctaws, putting up 22 in the first meeting between the two sides.
• Freshman guard Makaylla Bullard dished out a career-high eight assists to go with nine points and four boards.
• Junior center Makayla Liles scored a personal-best eight points in nine minutes on the floor, shooting 4-4 from the field.
• Sophomore forward Regan Croff recorded a team-best six rebounds.
• For Mississippi College, Emery Wilson scored 15 points while Kaitlyn Thompson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Mississippi College opened up the contest on a 7-2 run, with Croff scoring both the Warhawks points during the stretch from the free throw line. AUM knotted up the score at 7-all using a jump shot from redshirt-senior guard Kyla Rooks and a three-pointer from Bullard, but a basket by the hosts before the quarter ended made it 9-7.
• AUM took its first lead of the contest in the opening minute of the second quarter, using a layup from redshirt-sophomore center Bailee Wolfe and triple from Avleeva to create a 12-9 lead. The Warhawks added to the quarter-opening run with a layup from Wolfe, but a 7-2 retort by MC tied up the score 16-16. AUM reclaimed the lead via a jumper from Bullard, with the two sides exchanging the lead four times over the final 5:08 of the half with AUM holding a 22-21 advantage at the intermission.
• MC scored on their initial possession of the second half to take the lead, adding a triple to the separation on their next trip down the court to make it 26-22. Avleeva cut the deficit to one with a triple, but a 7-0 MC run created a 33-25 score. AUM ended the run with a pair of Avleeva free throws and got as close as four after a Croff layup cut it to 33-29, but a 6-2 spree to end the frame made it 39-31.
• The hosts created a double-digit lead with the initial basket of the final stanza, adding a pair of layups to their rally to create a 45-31 edge. AUM cut the separation to 10 off back-to-back layups from Liles and sophomore guard Aaliyah Milord, only for a 5-0 retort forcing a game-high 15-point separation, 52-37.  A pair of Liles layups sparked the Warhawks 17-3 comeback-effort that made it a one-point game with Bullard, Rooks and Avleeva all scoring, but an AUM turnover with seven seconds remaining and four late MC free throws created the final score.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The Warhawks converted on 21-55 shots, going 5-21 from three-point territory and 7-18 from the free throw line.
• MC went 22-59 from the field, 5-16 from beyond the arc and 10-16 from the free-throw line.
• The Warhawks dished out 16 assists while Mississippi College had 17
• The Choctaws held a 44-35 advantage in rebounds.
• AUM committed 24 turnovers, resulting in 30 MC points. The hosts committed 23 turnovers, leading to 22 points.
• Sparked by Liles' eight, the Warhawks held a 13-11 edge in points off the bench.
• AUM recorded five steals with one blocks while Mississippi College stole the ball 10 times with two blocks.
 
UP NEXT
The women's basketball team wraps up its lone Mississippi trip of the season on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Delta State, tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.
 
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