After losing big to #19 Union on Friday, the Florida Tech women played a much better game against West Alabama on Saturday, falling 85-75 on the final day of the SSC/GSC challenge played in Tampa.

Florida Tech was led by Severine Uggen’s 26 points. She was 10-for-16 from the field and pulled down three rebounds. Fanny Hakanson was all over the stat sheet in this one with 20 points, five assists, five steals, and four rebounds.

Hannah Roney poured in 17 points, going 5-for-9 with all nine attempts coming from behind the arc. She also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Aiste Vaitekunaite had two points to go along with six rebounds. She was the Panthers leader on the boards.

The Panthers (0-2) got off to a good start with threes by Hakanson and Uggen 58 seconds apart. Roney got one of her own about three minutes later to push the lead to 12-4. After another bucket by Hakanson made it 14-4, the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to make it 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Hakanson made one free throw and a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 19-15 lead. West Alabama would tie it at 19 and later in the quarter Jada Golden and Roney would trade threes to tie things at 24. The teams went back-and-forth the rest of the quarter and West Alabama came out of it with a 33-32 lead at the half.

The third quarter started well for the Panthers with Hakanson scoring and Uggen dropping another three. The Panthers led 37-33 with 8:53 left in the third. Hakanson had a layup later in the quarter to tie it at 39, before UWA pulled away with an 11-2 run before a three by Uggen with 2:28 left in the frame made it 50-44.

West Alabama (1-1) would score the final five points of the quarter and lead 55-44 with 10 minutes to go in the game.

Florida Tech came out swinging to start the fourth quarter as Hakanson and Roney both connected from long distance to close the gap to 55-50. They would get it down to four later in the quarter courtesy of an Uggen lay-in that she was fouled on with 5:32 left. She made the free throw and it was 61-57.

An 8-0 run by West Alabama followed and the Panthers were down 69-57 with 2:33 left. They would get a three from Lina Stranger-Johannessen to make it 69-60, but the Panthers were forced to foul the rest of the way, and the Tigers made 16 free throws in the final 1:45 of the contest.

For more info: Florida Tech @ West Alabama Box Score

The Panthers shot were 26-for-68 from the field, shooting 38.2 percent. They were 14-for-31 from three-point range, good for 45.2 percent. They were also 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. West Alabama took advantage of their chances from the line, as they were 37-for-46, good for over 80 percent. That’s where this game swung for the Tigers.

Florida Tech will open their home schedule on Tuesday night as they host the Flagler Saints at 7:00 p.m.