#12 Tampa Falls For First Time With 57-56 Loss

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 12 University of Tampa women's basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season on Friday, dropping a 57-56 decision to Columbus State in the 2009 Hampton Inn and Suites Fall Finals Classic at Armstrong Atlantic State University. The loss snaps UT's historic season-opening winning streak at nine, and the Spartans fall to 9-1 on the year. The Cougars improve to 5-3.

Tampa rushed out to a 7-0 lead and did not allow Columbus State on the scoreboard until a Cougar 3-pointer at the 13:24 mark cut the score to 7-3. The tide of the game changed as CSU went on a 13-3 run to take its first lead of the contest with 9:01 remaining in the opening half.

The lead exchanged hands throughout the rest of the stanza and Tampa went into the halftime break with a 22-20 lead.

A pair of Tiara Cook baskets in the second half's first four minutes pushed UT's lead out to six, but the advantage was short-lived as the second half was more of the same as the game featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes.

Columbus State enjoyed its largest lead of the game when Turelle Jones nailed a trey to give the Cougars a 54-47 advantage with 2:25 remaining in the contest.

UT trimmed its deficit in the final minutes as Tiara Cook and Gianna Messina were a combined 7-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch and Messina's last pair with 26 seconds remaining knotted the game at 56.

The Cougars held the ball until Jones - who led Columbus State with 22 points - missed a jumper with seven seconds left. With the ball loose and the teams battling for the rebound, Messina was whistled for a foul sending Lauren Ringfield to the free throw line where she converted one of the two shots.

It would prove to be the difference in the game as Tampa was unable to muster any last-second heroics on the final possession.

Cook led the Spartans in scoring on the day as she finished with 23 points. Taja Green chipped in 10 while Messina added nine along with a team-best eight rebounds.

UT shot just 34.0 percent from the field in the contest while the Cougars registered a 37.3 field goal percentage.

Tampa's undoing was at the free throw line as the Spartans were 22-31 at the stripe despite the strong performance in the contest's waning moments.

UT will return to action on Saturday at 6 p.m. as Tampa will take on Armstrong Atlantic.

UT will offer live stats along with a webcast through www.tampaspartans.com, accessible by clicking on the Multimedia link. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers eScores - a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events.