Women’s hoops handed tough Clayton loss

After winning two in a row, the GCSU women’s basketball team (15-6 overall, 8-3 Peach Belt) is back to the drawing board. The team is linking its recent woes, after a disastrous 70-35 defeat against No. 15 Clayton State, to one main problem – a lack of mental focus.

The 35-point defeat was far from dainty. Georgia College was torched in every facet of the game, highlighted by Clayton State’s dominance on the interior. The Lakers posted 50 points inside, compared to just 20 for the Bobcats.

Georgia College was also bested on the rebounding effort 50-44, but the significant lack on the defensive rebounding showed as the Bobcats were out-dueled 32-20.

GCSU opened the game shooting just 6-of-31 from the field for 19.4 percent and a dismal 1-of-7 from behind the arc, good for 14.3 percent.

During the second period, the shooting miseries continued. The Bobcats missed their first 11 attempts from the field and finished the second half hitting just four shots, while missing 27.

The 16.1 percent outing from the field was highlighted due to the Bobcats lack of attention and energy.

Because of the effort lapse, head coach John Carrick quickly pulled the starters out of the game in the opening minutes of the second period in an attempt to send a message to his team.

“I didn’t see any energy or sense of urgency,” Carrick said. “The girls appeared to be going through the motions instead of playing hard.”

GCSU hung with the quick-paced Lakers for part of the first half, but Clayton went on a 19-7 run over the final 8:49 of the first period and never looked back.

“We didn’t come out focused and match Clayton’s energy,” junior guard Dominique Huffin said. Huffin ended the day with 11 points, the lone Bobcat in double figures.

Combining poor shooting and a lack of enthusiasm with 24 turnovers, the loss is something Huffin and the team want to forget about and just move on.

“We have to come better prepared,” Huffin said. “We were all embarrassed, especially losing like that at home.”

Huffin, who has been in double figures the last four games, said the team also needs to discover the vigor and tenacity that was successful during the latter part of January.

“We have to learn from this game (against Clayton),” Huffin said. “We can’t take anything for granted in conference games.”

Looking forward now, the Bobcats will put the loss to Clayton in the rear-view mirror and look ahead to hosting USC Aiken on Saturday.

“We have to come mentally focused and ready to play,” senior center Antoinette Reames said, who is averaging 10 rebounds per game in the last four contests. “We have to focus on working hard in practice because other teams aren’t going to lay down for us.”

Despite the loss to Clayton, all team members know there has to be a change in effort, focus, and overall attitude.

“We have to find the fight and drive attitude we once had,” said junior backup point guard Jessica Baker, who has averaged 18.3 minutes of action over the past three games. “We have to focus on what we can control, like our defense.”

Carrick agrees.

“We can’t let that lack of focus happen again,” Carrick said. “We have to come prepared to compete.”

The Bobcats are back at it again on Saturday, hosting the Pacers of USC Aiken at 1:30 p.m.

“We have to take care of business and do what the girls are capable of doing,” Carrick said. “If we do that, we should be okay.”

NOTE: The Bobcats traveled to Augusta on Feb. 11 to take on Peach Belt Conference eastern division rival Augusta State. Results were not available due to production deadlines. Look for a breaking news article on GCSUnade.com and check GCSUBobcats.com for a complete game breakdown.

Posted by Chandler Lee on Feb 12 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