Women’s hoops maintains standing in conference

Bobcats top Augusta State, Ga. SW; can’t hold onto late lead in 46-43 loss to USC Aiken

The Georgia College women’s basketball team continues to hold its ground in the Peach Belt Conference West Division.

The Bobcats (16-6, 8-6 PBC) picked up a critical conference victory on the road over Georgia Southwestern on Feb. 16, overcoming a poor start and rallying for a 67-59 win.

Senior guards Dominique Huffin and Chimere Jordan carried the Bobcats, as they have all season, with Huffin pouring in 20 points and Jordan adding 16 points, continuing her streak of scoring in double figures in every game this season.

Junior forward Tammeisha Law chipped in with nine points, while senior guard Jessica Baker came off the bench to give Georgia College nine critical points.

The Hurricanes jumped on the Bobcats early, going ahead 10-0 before Jordan’s jumper put the Bobcats on the board with 15:05 remaining in the first half.

Georgia College steadily picked at Georgia Southwestern’s lead, cutting it down to 29-27 at the half.

The Bobcats immediately jumped out in front, as Huffin hit a three-pointer just five seconds into the second half, eventually increasing their lead to 34-31.

Southwestern responded with a 9-0 run to go back ahead 40-34 with 14:29 left.

Down 42-36, the Bobcats got six unanswered points of their own after baskets by freshman forward Abby Slocumb, Huffin and Baker to tie the game at 42-42.

A minute later, Baker’s three-pointer put the Bobcats ahead 45-43.

After briefly falling behind, the Bobcats tied the game at 51-51 after a jumper by Law with 8:27 remaining.

After both teams exchanged pairs of baskets, a free throw by freshman forward Krysta Lewis gave the Bobcats the lead for good with 4:36 left.

Georgia College continued its 8-0 run, stretching the lead to 61-55 with 1:54 to play. All was smooth sailing from there, as the Bobcats sealed the win. Georgia College had 37 rebounds, topping 34 rebounds by Southwestern.

On Feb. 10, the Bobcats picked up a blowout victory over Augusta State, 71-39 on senior night.

Senior guard Chimere Jordan led the way with 29 points and 10 rebounds in just 27 minutes of play. Senior guard Dominique Huffin added 14 points and nine rebounds of her own in the win. Freshman forward Krysta Lewis added nine points.

The Bobcats led by double digits for the majority of the night. Everything went their way, even as the halftime buzzer sounded as Jordan launched a three-pointer from half court to give them a 39-19 lead at the break.

Ten different players scored for Georgia College, and their defense was solid as well, holding the Jaguars to just 23 percent shooting from the floor.

Head Coach Maurice Smith was proud of the team for the win, especially the seniors.

“They’ve put a lot of work into this program, and they deserve everything they get. It was a big win for them,” he said. “We did a good job of executing on both ends of the ball.”

On Feb. 12, the Bobcats weren’t able to hang on to a late lead and fell to USC Aiken in a pivotal PBC matchup.

Up 41-34 with 5:42 left, Georgia College watched as No. 14 Aiken rallied to win 46-43 in a defensive battle.

Huffin and Jordan had 18 points each, but the rest of the offense wasn’t able to deliver the same spark and balance it had against Augusta State.

And while the Bobcats have been successful at the free throw line and in the turnover category this season, they shot just 58 percent from the line as opposed to Aiken’s 74 percent, and they had 21 giveaways and only 13 takeaways.

With only one game left at home this season, Smith said the road games will be tough.

“They’re all huge games. It’s an uphill battle,” he said. “We have to take care of business, and we have to look at it as an opportunity to put us in a good position going into the conference tournament.”

The Bobcats return to action Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. against Columbus State.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Feb 17 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.