Women top Columbus, Montevallo, aim to finish strong heading into postseason

The Georgia College women’s basketball team picked up another pair of victories in the last week, their latest a 60-45 triumph at Montevallo on Feb. 23 following a 64-48 win over Columbus State on Feb. 19. Having another slow start, the Bobcats (18-6, 10-6 PBC) were down by one in the first three minutes. Senior guard Chimere Jordan took some time to heat up, but made sure to find it. She recorded 25 points in the affair and dominated the glass with 17 rebounds. Freshman forward Abby Slocumb enriched her stats from the Columbus State game where she had six points and six boards, by giving the Bobcats 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Centennial Center was packed out for the Homecoming festivities, and the Bobcats showed up excited to earn the victory over the Cougars. Both teams matched points five times in the first half, and had eight lead changes, the biggest from a six point run by the Bobcats. With the clock winding down in the first, senior guard Dominique Huffin hit a jumper in the lane to go up 29-28 with 15 seconds left. Huffin put up 15 of her 17 points in the first half.

The walk into the locker room at halftime allowed Head Coach Maurice Smith to re-adjust his team and get them ready to come out stronger in the second half and advance the lead. Shooting only 33 percent from the field, the Bobcats paved the way for the Cougars to climb back during the first half, but also shooting 83 percent from the free-throw line maintained a close game for Georgia College.

The Bobcats “energy girl” as Smith calls her, sophomore guard Karisma Boykin, drained a three for Georgia College to grab the first points of the new half. Boykin, overall had 12 points, five rebounds, and helped Huffin and Jordan by dishing out six assists.

“Having those two is unexplainable,” Boykin said. “They’re players and they do player things.”

The Bobcats second half strong start turned sloppy. After Boykin hit her three in the opening minutes followed by a steal the next possession, Georgia College became complacent with an array of 50-50 shots.

“I thought we had three or four possessions where we had bad turnovers,” Smith said. “Self-inflicting ones where we’re not coming off a screen, we’re not passing well, shooting well.”

Slocumb took a breather in the thirteenth minute to let freshman forward Krysta Lewis see the court. Lewis struggled in the first half with zero points and only three boards.

“I had a horrible first half,” Lewis said. “Coaches have been getting on to me about being more mature and stepping it up this game.”

Lewis, taking in the roaring atmosphere and numbered stands, engaged her mind in the game and began to deliver. On the inbound, Huffin missed a three pointer collected by Jordan for a positive. On the next Cougar possession, Lewis’ strong defensive presence in the lane led to a steal and the bobcats fight back began.

The score stayed within two up until the ninth minute. Boykin grabbed a rebound from a Jordan miss and dished it Lewis for an easy layup. This sparked an offense melt down for the Cougars rattling off three turnovers and two travels back to back. Offensively the Bobcats prevailed when Jordan sunk a difficult floater after being fouled. On their next possession, the Cougars turned it over again and Jordan capitalized burying a three, giving Jordan six points in no time. Georgia College’s lead increased within the last five minutes as a tired Columbus State team could not keep up. The freshman, Lewis hit a jumper in the lane and a three pointer back-to-back to spread the lead and put the victory out of reach for the Cougars. Lewis totaled 11 points shooting 5-of-11.

“It’s a huge confidence boost,” Lewis said.

The Homecoming triumph put the Bobcats at the No. 2 seed in the PBC Western Division and guaranteed them a home playoff game in the first round of the conference tournament. The game will be played March 2 at a time to be determined.