Lady ‘Cats march to madness

Lady Bobcats win PBC Tournament; head back to NCAA II Tourney

Sunday, March 7, 2004
March Madness has hit Georgia College & State University as the Lady Bobcats are headed back to the NCAA Division II Tournament after defeating Lander University 79-67, in Sunday’s Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship game held at the Christenberry Fieldhouse.
GC&SU (26-5) wins its third PBC Tournament title, and places second in the last three years to advance to the NCAA South Atlantic Regional for the fourth time in school history.
GC&SU stretched the lead out to double figures late in the first half as Antionette Long scored six straight points.
The Lady Bobcats went into the locker room at halftime leading 35-28, despite shooting only 34.1 percent (14-44) from the floor and 0-9 from the three-point range.
The Lady Bobcats heated up in the second half, hitting 61percent (17-28) from the floor, including three out of four from behind the arc. Lander (24-5), the PBC Regular Season Champion, cut the deficit to single digits several times in the second half, but GC&SU never gave up the lead.
“Every time they went on a run, we answered with a run of our own,” GC&SU Coach John Carrick said. “I’m real proud of them for that.”
Long led GC&SU with 20 points, while Latia Love scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the tournament. They were both named to the PBC All-Tournament team, with Love taking home MVP honors.
Rachael Jackson and Breane Haggard also reached double figures for GC&SU with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Kirsti Jones dished out five assists and picked up two steals to break the school single season record with 103 thefts on the season.
Tracy Jacobs posted a double-double and led Lander with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Jennifer Beamon added 18 points, while Natasha Hemphill scored 16 in the loss.
Next up for the Lady Bobcats is a trip to Raleigh, N.C. and an invite to The NCAA Division II Tournament brackets. Locations will be announced late on Sunday night.

Lady Bobcat Hoops Advance to Semifinals in Regional Tourney

Friday, March 12, 2004
The GC&SU Women’s Basketball Team came up big at the free throw line to hold on for the 65-60 victory over the No. 7 seed Catawba College in Friday’s opening round of the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional Women’s Basketball Tournament at Shaw University’s Spaulding Gymnasium.
GC&SU (27-5) advanced to the semi-final game on Saturday at 6 p.m. against No. 6 seed Virginia Union (24-6).
The Lady Bobcats wasted no time in the first half, going on a pair of 8-0 runs to build a 16-4 lead at the 13:21 mark. The Lady ‘Cats reached their biggest lead, 32-15, with five minutes remaining in the half after a jumper by senior Rachael Jackson.
Catawba’s offense struggled to handle GC&SU’s pressured defense as the Lady Bobcats forced the Indians into ten turnovers and only 32 percent (9-28) shooting from the floor. GC&SU would put up six more points in the final minutes on 45.7 percent (16-35) shooting to enter the locker room with the 38-24 lead at the half.
The story quickly changed in the second half as the Lady Bobcats turned ice cold to open the door for Catawba as the Indians cut the lead into single digits with the help of three long range bombs by Ashley Cox to pull her team as close as three points, 55-52, with 3:30 remaining.
Alicia Porter converted a three-point play with 1:18 on the clock before Kirsti Jones stepped to the line with under a minute to play and hit both ends of a one-and-one to give GC&SU the 60-52 lead.
Cox answered again, however, with five straight points and 20.7 remaining to cut the lead to 63-57, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Bobcats iced the game with four more free throws to hold on for the 65-60 win.
Jones led GC&SU with 13 points along with three assists, three steals and two blocks, while Love added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Antionette Long finished with 11 points, while Jackson scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Lady Bobcats. Despite only shooting 22 percent (5-23) from the floor in the second half, GC&SU hit 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe to seal the game down the stretch.

GC&SU Lady Bobcats
advance to Sweet Sixteen!

Saturday, March 13, 2004
The GC&SU women’s basketball team defeated Virginia Union 71-61 in Saturday’s semifinal round of the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional Women’s Basketball Tournament at Shaw University’s Spaulding Gymnasium.
GC&SU (28-5) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen Championship game on Monday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Armstrong Atlantic State University and Augusta State University in the other semi-final game.
GC&SU entered the locker room with a sizeable 42-24 lead at the half, but Virginia Union came back in the second half with the help of a 10-2 run and only 24 percent (6-25) shooting from the Lady Bobcats.
With the slim 67-61 lead in the remaining minutes, GC&SU hit their free-throws down the stretch to clinch their ninth straight victory and become the first Lady Bobcat basketball team to reach the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.
For the game, GC&SU shot a low 31 percent (18-58) and turned the ball over 13 times, 11 in the second half, but forced the Lady Panthers to commit 26 turnovers.
Virginia Union finished the game shooting 39.7 percent (23-58), including only 21 percent (4-19) from beyond the arc. The Lady Bobcats also had 18 steals.
Breane Haggard led the Lady Bobcats with a career high of 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc to also tie her career high of six three-pointers in a game.
Antionette Long and Latia Love added 18 and 10 points respectively. Danielle Hoggard scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Virginia Union.

GC&SU Lady Bobcats’
season comes to an end

Monday, March 15, 2004
A record breaking season for the GC&SU women’s basketball team came to an end Monday night as the Lady Bobcats fell 91-68 to Peach Belt Conference foe Augusta State University in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional Championship Game at Shaw University’s Spaulding Gymnasium.
Both squads exchanged baskets for most of the first half before several Lady Bobcat starters got into early foul trouble to open the door for Augusta State.
Senior Rachael Jackson hit a jumper under the two minute mark to pull GC&SU within three, 40-37, but Alshaa Hodges answered with five of her 18 first half points to help give the Lady Jaguars the 46-39 advantage going into the locker room at the half.
In the second half, the wheels came off for GC&SU as the Lady Bobcats turned the ball over six of their first seven trips down the floor and didn’t score a basket until the 17:30 mark on an Adrienne Tucker jumper to trail 53-41. Stretching the lead to 61-43 with the help of a 15-4 run, ASU never looked back as GC&SU wasn’t able to cut the lead into single digits.
For the game, the Lady Bobcats shot 38 percent (26-68) from the floor, while committing an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers.
Augusta State shot 46.5 percent (33-71) from the field, including a hot 51.5 percent (17-33) in the second half. The Lady Jaguars won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding GC&SU 45-37.
Latia Love and Antionette Long led the Lady Bobcats with 13 points apiece, while also being named to the All-Tournament team. Tucker and Jackson added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
For Augusta State, Hodges finished with a career-high of 33 points and was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, while teammate Cheryl Audain posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
GC&SU finishes the season with the most wins in school history at 28-6 after becoming the first team to reach the Sweet Sixteen, while opening the year with a record of 11 straight wins.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 19 2004. 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