Women’s hoops falls to Clayton

Nobody has been able to stop the No. 2 Clayton State women’s basketball team this season, not even Georgia College. But even in the wake of a tough 87-61 loss on Feb. 5 to the undefeated Lakers, the Bobcats found a silver lining in the form of their inspired second half performance and a renewed sense of team unity.

“It was a tough loss. We came out and didn’t match the intensity,” senior guard Dominique Huffin said. “I think the good thing that came out of it though was that we came together as a team in the second half. I think we were more of a team then as any other time this year. Everybody was on the same page, and we were picking each other up and feeding off of each other.”

After falling behind 42-19 at halftime, the Bobcats were only outscored 45-42 in the second half. Huffin turned in a powerful performance, scoring 24 points, while fellow senior guard Chimere Jordan had 13 points, and sophomore guard Karisma Boykin chipped in with 10 points. The Lakers had a balanced offensive effort with 11 different players scoring.

Georgia College Head Coach Maurice Smith was impressed with his team’s second half effort.

“We talked to the team, and after you suffer a tough loss like that, the biggest thing is how you bounce back,” Smith said. “We did that in the second half and showed some fight. So we are trying to build from those positives. We picked up the energy and effort in the second half, and we would like to take those positives and carry them throughout the rest of the year.”

The loss dropped the Bobcats to 14-5 overall and 6-5 in PBC play heading into their game against Augusta State on Feb. 10, which had not been played at press time.

With only a few games left in the regular season, the Bobcats are trying put themselves in the best possible position entering postseason play.

Smith said that starts with what he calls the team’s staple, defense.

“We’ve got to get back to defending well and holding our opponents to a low field goal percentage, winning the rebounding battle and doing those little things and fundamentals that we preach day in and day out,” Smith said. “Our defense has won a lot of games for us, and that’s the challenge for our players and coaches, to get it back going on the defensive end.”

Huffin said another key goal for the Bobcats will be winning the games that they’re supposed to and finishing strong, especially in their away games.

“The majority of the games are going to be on the road, so we’ve got to come into those games knowing we are already down by 10 and come ready to play,” she said. “We need to play to the best of our ability and pick up on our defense again and our aggressiveness.”

Even with the loss to Clayton State, the Bobcats season is far from over, as Huffin pointed out.

“We know that it’s not over. It’s just a lump in the road. You’ve just got to overcome the adversity and keep going,” Huffin said. “We need that never-say-die attitude. We showed that in the Clayton game. We’ve just got to finish ball games.”

Georgia College’s goals and expectations for the rest of the season remain at the highest level.

“We are a successful team.  We have everything we need to make a big run in the playoffs,” Huffin said. “We have high hopes of winning the Peach Belt Conference and making it to the national tournament. We’ve just got to keep our eyes on the prize and keep working hard and be ready for what’s coming up next.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Feb 10 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.