Blossoms Finish Week with Dent in Perfect Season

Staff Writer

   The University of Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms finished the week with a dent on their perfect record and move to a 6-1 for the year.

   Southern Arkansas, Tougaloo and St. Mary’s all participated in the Holiday Inn Express Classic hosted by the Blossoms  Dec. 5-6.

   The Blossoms faced a true test of stamina against St. Mary’s Dec. 5 due to injuries and sickness. Some of the Blossoms played over 30 minutes each in the game, something head coach Chris Ratcliff does not want for his team.

   “Andrea (Dubose) had to play 38 minutes and Nicole Lowe had to play 37. That is not what I want,” Ratcliff said. “I want 9 kids playing about 20-25 minutes a game; and when we add Monique Perkins to the rotation we will have a real good 10-man rotation going.”

   The Blossoms held a 16-point lead with just under four-minuets to play until Natalie Gamez help lead St. Mary's to 16-5 run, where she had two three-pointers and the game winning rebound when she was fouled. She made both free-throws to put her team up 61-60 with five seconds remaining.

   “I am not taking anything from St. Mary’s. They are a very good team and they received a few votes for the top 25,” Ratcliff said. “We realize that the little things count and we can’t take possessions off.”

   The Blossoms followed Ratcliff’s advice against Tugaloo the following day by making every possession count from the tip-off, scoring the first two buckets in route to a 45-20 half-time score. UAM continued in the second-half by putting up 48 points and defeating Tugaloo 93-46.

   “We learned from our loss; we understand that we are not going to win all of them,” Dubose said. “We still can’t give up and we have to continue to play until the buzzer.”

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