PENSACOLA, Fla. -- After opening the conference
portion of its schedule with two straight wins, the
University of North Alabama women's basketball team dropped
a 76-71 decision at West Florida Thursday. The loss drops
UNA to 9-9 overall and 2-1 in the Gulf South Conference.
West Florida improved to 6-11 and 1-1.
Despite the loss, UNA senior
Amber Rutherford of Hatton, Ala., set an NCAA Division II
record by making her 54th consecutive free throw of the
season. Rutherford eclipsed the mark of 53 that Denise Gallo
of Pittsburgh-Johnston set in 1995-96. Rutherford's 54
straight made free throws will also stand as UNA and Gulf
South Conference records. Both of those marks were held by
former Lion Becky Mauck at 34.
After breaking the mark,
Rutherford missed her next two attempts and finished the
night one-for-three from the line. For the season Rutherford
has made 84 of 91 free throw attempts as she tries to defend
her back-to-back Division II free throw shooting titles.
For her career, Rutherford has
made 478 of 519 attempts for a 92.1 average. That percentage
would easily surpass the current DII career mark of 88.5 set
by Darlene Hilderand of Philadelphia from 1992-95.
With 21 points in the game,
Rutherford also moved past Tracy McCall into second place on
the all-time UNA scoring list. Rutherford now has 1,426
points and trails only Amber Deline, who scored 1,622 points
for the Lions.
In the West Florida game, UNA
trailed 42-38 at the half and could never quite catch the
Argonauts. Rutherford led all UNA scorers with 21, while
Jameica York added 15 and Dana Jackson 11. Amy Drake led
West Florida with 27 and Tiffany Williams had 14. Rutherford
added nine rebounds for the Lions.
