Scott Groninger’s former ball club made him sweat it out until the very final possession, but the University of West Georgia women’s basketball coach got a hard-earned, 59-56 Gulf South Conference road win over Christian Brothers on Thursday evening at Canale Arena in Memphis.

After UWG (10-4, 4-2 GSC) missed a free throw with eight seconds left, CBU (3-11, 0-6) got the rebound and called a timeout, setting up a potential game-tying shot. West Georgia guard Brittany Johnson came up big, though, blocking Candis Clear’s 3-point attempt to seal the victory.

The Wolves built a nine-point lead — their biggest of the game — on a Mone Peoples’ trey with 15:05 left in the second half. But a pesky CBU squad, which got career night from freshman forward Samantha Reeves, wouldn’t go away quietly. The Lady Bucs pulled within one on a Clear 3-pointer with 5:53 left in the game.

A Johnson lay-up pushed UWG’s lead back to three points 22 seconds later, and then neither team would score until CBU’s Jessica Green connected on a field goal with 1:12 left, making it a 57-56 contest. West Georgia senior guard Jerlisa Taylor countered with a layup to push the lead back to three points with 43 ticks remaining.

The Lady Bucs got two looks on the ensuing possession, but Reeves and Taylor Pugh both missed their attempts and Johnson pulled down her 12th board of the night to put Taylor at the free-throw line with eight seconds left. Taylor would miss, though, and CBU had a last chance, getting the rebound and calling timeout. Johnson came up with the huge defensive play for the Wolves, however, to cap off UWG’s third straight conference win.

Villa Rica High School product JaDechia Hill led West Georgia with 15 points and five rebounds, while Johnson did a little bit of everything, scoring 12 points with 12 rebounds and five assists. Taylor Turgeon also dropped in 12 points for UWG, going 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Reeves led all scorers with 24 points to go along six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in 38 minutes of action.

UWG remains on the road to face Delta State on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Cleveland, Miss.

Christian Brothers men 64, West Georgia 54: A long second-half scoring drought played a pivotal role in snapping the Wolves’ three-game winning streak, as the Bucs (9-5, 4-2 GSC) continue to have UWG’s number.

The two teams were knotted up at 29-all after the first half, where the Wolves got off to a slow start and fell behind 17-9 in the early minutes.

West Georgia then endured a pair lengthy scoring droughts in the second half, including a 3:33 span early in the half and a killer stretch toward the end of the game.

Following a Quincy Hill field goal that put UWG up 46-45 with 9:58 remaining in the game, the Wolves (7-7, 4-2) wouldn’t score again until the 1:57 mark when Taylor Cochran connected on a 3-pointer to pull his squad within seven at 56-49.

During the Wolves’ 8:01 scoring drought, they went 0-for-8 from the field, missed a pair of free throws and committed six turnovers. The Bucs sealed the win behind a 9-of-11 clip from the charity stripe over the final 2:57.

UWG shot 21-of-55 (38 percent) for the game, went 4-of-17 (24 percent) from beyond the arc and connected on just half of its free-throw attempts, going 8-of-16. The Wolves also had 16 turnovers to just six assists.

Hill and Sean Boston both posted 13 points to lead the UWG offense, while Boston also pulled down a team-best 11 boards. Michael Drake led CBU with 15 points.

West Georgia will look to rebound on Saturday night at 5 at Delta State.