Bobcats and Lady Bobcats enjoy winter break with wins

By Ryan Schomber
Staff Writer

It’s been about a month, during which the Georgia College & State University basketball teams have been quite busy.
After taking a three week break from games, the two Bobcat teams were back in action in late December. On the weekend of Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 the Bobcats were able to rally and beat Tuskegee 76-73. Rodney Keener scored a game-high 27 points to help GC&SU rally from a 15 point deficit.
GC&SU (6-3) trailed 44-29 at halftime, but the Bobcats did not quit and managed to shoot 53% (17-32) from the floor in the second half. The Bobcats used a 12-2 second-half run to tie the score at 56-all with 9:46 to play. But Tuskegee (1-9) would not go away and appeared to regain the momentum they had lost. Tuskegee used a 7-0 run of its own to hold a 68-63 advantage with less than five minutes remaining. Now it was the Bobcats’ turn as they rallied again thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Ivan Bracic. Bracic iced the game with 1:10 left to play when he made a bucket. GC&SU’s Johnnie Stafford hit two free throws with six seconds remaining to make the score 76-73. Tuskegee’s Michael Leggett missed on a three-point attempt at the buzzer as the Bobcats held on for the three point win.
Keener was not the only Bobcat to play well; Derrick Nicholson also reached double figures with 10 points. Tuskegee’s guard Leggett led the Golden Tigers with 22 points, while David Boyd added 16 points off the bench.
In their night game of the tournament, GC&SU jumped out to an early 11-2 lead over Johnson C. Smith University, but the Golden Bulls had the hotter hand down the stretch and came back to defeat the Bobcats 67-61.
JCSU (8-2) went to the locker room at halftime up 38-33. The Golden Bulls finished off the Bobcats with a late 15-2 run in the second half. Despite forcing 22 Golden Bull turnovers, GC&SU (5-3) shot a horrible 14% (2-14) from three-point range and 30% (3-10) from the charity strip for the game.
GC&SU would not get closer than three points the entire night. JCSU came out in the second half with an 11-2 run. Dell Douglas led JCSU with 12 points, while Marco Spears added 11 points for the Golden Bulls. The Bobcats were led by Daryl Ruffus with 16 points, followed by Derrick Nicholson and Rodney Keener, added 12 points apiece for GC&SU.
The Bobcats were able to get through the winter storm and pull off a win in a Peach Belt Conference game.
GC&SU (7-3, 2-1 PBC) defeated UNC Pembroke 85-70.
The Bobcats hit eight of its first nine shots and never trailed on the way to its second straight victory. Early in the week GC&SU defeated Tuskegee. The Bobcats led 37-31 at halftime and shot 52% (16-31) from the floor in the second half. During the game GC&SU hit 13 of 14 free throws to seal the win.
Rodney Keener led the Bobcats with 17 points, while Derrick Nicholson added 15 points and six rebounds. Joseph Harris came off the bench, adding 11 points and grabbing a career high 14 rebounds. Ron Hood also sparked the team by draining four three-pointers to add 12 points.
Lynx Tepatondele led UNC Pembroke (5-5, 1-2 PBC) with 15 points, while David Siebrands added 12 points.
It’s been a tough two weeks for the Bobcats. After having a two-game winning streak, GC&SU has gone 1-3 in their last four games. After losing to both Augusta State and North Florida, GC&SU came back and beat Clayton State 99-89. But then the Bobcats could not find their game, losing to Kennesaw State 90-77.
Kennesaw State (8-5, 4-2 PBC) opened the game with a 7-0 run and never trailed, defeating GC&SU (8-6. 3-4 PBC).
The Bobcats trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half but cut the deficit down to six points early in the second half. Kennesaw’s tough defense would not give up the lead though, making GC&SU frustrated.
Prentice Gates led KSU with 21 points; his teammate Ed Womack added 16 points. Derrick Nicholson led the Bobcats with a career high 27 points, while junior guard Keener added 16 points for GC&SU.
The Bobcats look to avenge this roller coaster ride with a nice winning streak against their Peach Belt opponents.

The Lady Bobcats shocked number 11 ranked Presbyterian College Friday Dec. 28, with a 59-57 point win.
Senior forward Betsy Foy scored 20 points, including a huge three-pointer late in the contest, to give her Lady Bobcats a big win.
GC&SU (4-4) trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half but never gave up. The Lady Bobcats finally found their range and shot 50% (13-26) from the floor in the second half of the game. Dalana Watson tied the game at 50-all with a short jumper with 6:22 remaining, and Larkin Cleaveland gave the Lady Bobcats their first lead of the game with a lay-up to make the score 52-50.
After Foy connected on her three-pointer, she gave GC&SU their biggest lead of the night at 57-51 with just 2:16 to play. Presbyterian (8-2) trimmed the lead down to two points with 3.7 seconds to play on guard Toni Leopard’s lay-up. Presbyterian then went to a full court press, but the Lady Bobcats got past it to run out the clock for the win.
Watson, who was really quiet in the first half after not scoring, added 10 points in the second half to help the Lady Bobcats defeat Presbyterian. Cleaveland also added nine points to help out.
Leopard led the Blue Hose with 18 points.
The GC&SU Lady Bobcats looked to pull off their second straight upset Saturday, but it was not to be as Lenoir-Rhyne used strong second half runs for the 90-68 victory at the Columbus State Holiday Classic. After defeating no. 11 ranked Presbyterian on Friday, GC&SU (4-5) opened Saturday’s game hot with a 7-0 run and led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Lenoir-Rhyne (10-2) used a late 8-0 run to take a 39-31 lead at halftime. The Bears shot a 53% (20-38) from the floor in the second half to put the game away and ended the Lady Bobcats’ hopes of two upsets in a row.
During the second half of play the Lady Bobcats were able to cut the deficit to three points at 45-42. Then Lenior-Rhyne’s Jessica Bryan took control of the game. Bryan caught on fire, scoring 19 of her 22 total points in the second half. She was able to hit 9-13 shots from the floor during that stretch. Along with her 22 points, Bryan was a monster on the boards, grabbing 13 rebounds. Not to be out done be her teammate, Maya Grady added 21 points, nine assists, and had six steals for the Bears.
For the Lady Bobcats, Watson had a good game, posting a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead GC&SU. Also, forward Andrea Lee added a season-high 13 points in the loss for the Lady Bobcats.
The Lady Bobcats were not too lucky against UNC Pembroke, losing on the road 86-77.
The Lady Bobcats (4-6, 0-3 PBC) got off to a fast start but could not hold an early double-digit lead as UNC Pembroke (5-5, 1-2 PBC) rallied for the win. UNCP was on fire the entire game shooting 51% (31-61) from the floor. Jennifer Lance led UNCP with 27 points and 13 rebounds, while her teammate Lennetta Bentley came off the bench to score 23 points. Foy led the Lady Bobcats with 21 points and grabbed four rebounds. Andrea Lee had 14 points, and Watson scored 13 points to help out GC&SU.
GC&SU then beat Augusta State and Clayton State with a loss to North Florida sandwiched in between the wins.
Forward Dalana Watson drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to give GC&SU a thrilling 65-62 victory over rival Kennesaw State.
Kennesaw State’s (7-6, 3-3 PBC) Denisha Ferguson hit one out of two free throws with five seconds remaining in the game to tie the score at 62-all. Watson, who finished the game with 14 points, received a pretty pass from Andrienne Tucker on the right wing and swished the three-pointer to win the game for the Lady Bobcats.
Foy led GC&SU (7-7, 3-4 PBC) with 21 points. Ferguson was everywhere for KSU as she led her team with 26 points and 19 rebounds as the Lady Owls out-rebounded GC&SU 48-31. Morka Malgorzata also reached double figures for KSU with 13 points.
After good Peach Belt Conference play, the Lady Bobcats should now try to make a run at the top of the conference.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 7 2001. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry