Women’s hoops pushes record to 4-2

Five games, five practices, two shoot-around sessions, and 1,436 miles traveled.

That has been the GCSU women’s basketball team’s path the last 11 days.

The Bobcats (4-2) responded by going 3-2 in the span, most recently defeating NAIA Edward Waters College Tigers (3-6) this past Tuesday night, 87-73, at the Centennial Center.

The Bobcats’ other two victories came against Barry University and Tusculum College, while falling to Nova Southeastern University and Carson-Newman College, all on the road.

Although the Bobcats had a winning record in the five games, head coach John Carrick was disturbed by the performance showed by his team (against Edward Waters).

“I’m most disappointed in the fundamentals,” Carrick said. “We’ve played some good teams over the past week or so, but there is no excuse for the amount of turnovers we committed.”

Twenty-three of those turnovers came against Edward Waters, most of which were unforced.

GCSU also shot poorly from the field in that game, shooting under 40 percent overall. The Bobcats seemingly couldn’t buy a 3-pointer, hitting 5 of 29 at 17.2 percent.

“We have to shoot the ball better in our home gym,” Carrick said.

Despite struggling from beyond the arc, the Bobcats were able to pound the ball inside for most of the game. The Bobcats outscored the Tigers 38-26 in the paint and 30-16 on second-chance opportunities.

Helping that cause was senior forward Antionette Reames, who recorded her second straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Reames said the team needs to focus on being more vigorous when coming to play.

“We have to keep our energy level up throughout the whole game,” Reames said. “If we bring energy to the court, we will be successful.”

GCSU led 41-29 at the break and came out firing on all cylinders in the second period, leading by as many as 23. Junior guard Dominique Huffin helped the run by crashing the boards.

Huffin contributed with seven rebounds, five of which were on the offensive glass, to go along with her 14 points.

“I knew someone had to pick up the intensity and we needed energy,” Huffin said. “I just try to play to the best of my ability and help the team win.”

GCSU allowed the Tigers to claw back within 10 points in the second stanza. The Bobcats, though, were able to sustain the run by Edward-Waters by forcing 34 Tiger turnovers and converting those to 42 points.

Junior guard Chimere Jordan led all scorers for GCSU with 17, while senior guard Candice Clark chipped in with 10.

Carrick said in spite of the mistakes, the team has performed well over the five game period.

“We have played team basketball over the last five games,” said Carrick. “We have to shoot better and work on the fundamentals to improve.”

GCSU will travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University this Saturday in Hickory, N.C. The Bobcats previously defeated the Bears at home this season in the team’s first game, 68-67, on Jordan’s game-winning three at the buzzer.

“If we start slow against Lenoir-Rhyne then they will run us out of the building,” Huffin said. “We have to play aggressive, come prepared, and be ready to play.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Dec 4 2009. 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