Lady Bobcats go dancing

By Ryan Schomber
Staff Writer

The Lady Bobcats are heading to the NCAA II Tournament.
The Tournament will be held March 7-9. The Lady Bobcats finally made believers out of their fans.
“We are tired, and I just enjoyed watching all those kids that we yelled at, pushed to play better and now greet all the benefits and all of the hard work we played with,” said Head Coach John Carrick. “Made them so happy they thought they could fly.”
Georgia College & State University’s Lady Bobcats will be making their third ever trip to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Back in 1996 GC&SU made it’s first ever appearance after winning the Peach Belt. GC&SU also received an at-large bid to the tournament in 1997 after finishing as the runner-up in the PBC Tournament.
This year’s trip was a little more adventurous for the team. After going into the Peach Belt Tournament with a record of 15-11, the Lady Bobcats were not sure how well the team was going to do in the Tournament.
“I truly believed that we could win it,” said Carrick. “I talked to them about it just about everyday for about a week or so about the tournament, about what we needed to do it, and how it required every single person on the team.”
In an easy victory over USC Spartanburg, the Lady Bobcats ran the score up and never looked back for a 72-50 win.
In round two, the Lady Bobcats went up against USC Aiken. Aiken crushed GC&SU four weeks ago with a final score of 79-49, but things were completely different this time.
After putting up a tough defense for the entire game, the Lady Bobcats were able to put together a couple of baskets and get the win 69-60. Going into the semi-final contest against Armstrong Atlantic University, the Lady Bobcats played really well. After AAU upset Kennesaw State, the No. 2 seed of the tournament, the Lady Bobcats knew they were not to look by Armstrong or they would be gone.
Armstrong did not have another upset in them as the Lady Bobcats shocked the Peach Belt and moved to the finals with a 72-64 win.
Heading into the finals, GC&SU knew they had their work cut out for them if they wanted to become the champs of the Peach Belt.
North Florida was 20-8 heading into the game and looking for more. GC&SU wanted to play tough defense and stop North Florida’s Skye Barber.
The Lady Bobcats did everything they wanted to against her, holding Barber to 19 points. With just 3 seconds left in the game, Larkin Cleaveland drove to the hole and hit a lay-up as time expired, making the Lady Bobcats Peach Belt Champs.
“The girls are just as happy as they can be,” said Carrick. “Coming back on the bus, they were singing songs and just enjoying themselves.”
Now GC&SU prepares for the NCAA II Tournament, which holds a lot of unanswered questions for the team. The team begins play against North Carolina Central.
“We got stats from all of their games; we got stats from certain games. We got a film coming in tomorrow about them,” said Carrick. “We will work on what we can control; we are going to get as much knowledge about the opposite team as possible.”
GC&SU worked together the entire Peach Belt Tournament and look at the result.
“We have to play hard and have fun, because now we are representing more than GC&SU. Now we are representing the Peach Belt Conference, and that is a great feeling.”
With the Lady Bobcats advancing into the NCAA II Tournament, seniors Betsy Foy and April Hartley will be counted on again for leadership.
“I expect them to do what they have been doing the whole season, work hard, and good things are going to happen for them and the team,” said Carrick. “I just want them and the rest of the girls to have fun in the tournament.”
GC&SU has already had an outstanding season with a 19-11 record. With the team advancing to the NCAA II Tournament, the Lady Bobcats are leaving a message for all the non-believers, and that is, watch out we are coming.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 8 2002. 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