Women’s hoops wins two straight

Three games into a four-game home stretch, the GCSU women’s basketball team showed that bringing the most important asset to game day – energy – proves successful.

The results? Two wins and just one defeat.

The Bobcats most recently defeated North Georgia on Wednesday, 59-56.

The spark was not provided until the second half of play, however. The Bobcats were down 24-18 at intermission, causing head coach John Carrick to wonder if his team even showed up to the contest.

“We had an embarrassing first half,” Carrick said. “We brought no energy and every mistake we made was highlighted because we came out slow.”

In that first half, GCSU shot just 24.1 percent from the field, while dialing 12.5 percent from 3-point range. Getting out-rebounded 27-17 was also displeasing to Carrick.

The Bobcats, though, showed resolve in the second period.

Sparked at the beginning of the second half with a steal from junior guard Dominique Huffin, who relayed to senior guard Shandrea Moore for a layup, the Bobcats were able to energize themselves into getting refocused on the task at hand.

The Bobcats and Saints traded blows throughout the second half. A back-and-forth offensive battle, the Bobcats were able to even up the game at 41-41 with 9:28 remaining. After North Georgia’s Whitney Randolph completed a free-throw attempt, the Bobcats took the lead on a layup by Moore with 9:16 to play.

From that point on, the Bobcats outscored the Saints 16-14 in the remainder of the second period. The Bobcats, though, never threw away the lead, turning the numbers around from the first half to shoot 42.4 percent from the field in the second period. GCSU was also more effective from behind the arc at 50 percent.

“In the second half we brought more energy,” Carrick said. “Dominique (Huffin) set the tempo (in the second half) with hustle rebounds.”

Along with the spark from Huffin, Moore steered the offensive and defensive transition for the Bobcats throughout the second stanza.

Moore finished the game with 17 points and eight steals, setting a new career high in take-aways. Coming into the contest against the Saints, Moore was in a scoring drought, averaging just 3.7 points per game in the previous five outings.

Thankfully for Carrick and the Bobcats, Moore snapped out of the skid.

“Moore dominated at both ends of the floor,” Carrick said. “She was able to cut opponents off and also shot the ball well.”

Moore was thrilled, though, that the team got the victory.

“We weren’t satisfied with our play in the first half,” Moore said. “We didn’t play offense or defense, and coach (Carrick) let us know about it. We had to take pride in playing in our own gym and did that in the second half.”

Junior guard Chimere Jordan also contributed, scoring 14 points, all in the second half. Jordan also lassoed five rebounds, garnered four dimes, one block, and one steal.

“We saw some things that had to be changed and adjusted,” Jordan said. “We had to bring energy and intensity in the effort.”

GCSU was outscored 36-16 in the paint, but converted 19 turnovers by the Saints into 14 points. Both teams traded points often, as the lead changed five times throughout the contest.

The Bobcats also competed against UNC Pembroke this past Saturday, edging the Braves 61-56. This past Friday, GCSU was defeated by No. 17 Francis Marion, 92-77, a loss which snapped a six-game win streak.

The Bobcats stand at 15-5 overall for the campaign and 8-2 in the Peach Belt Conference western division. The conference mark is tied for first with Clayton State in the division. The Bobcats have also won two in a row and eight of their past nine.

GCSU will wrap up its current four-game home stand this Saturday, hosting Clayton State at 1:30 p.m.

“We have to bring energy,” Carrick said. “When we do that, we are successful.”

Posted by Chandler Lee on Feb 5 2010. 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