Women’s hoops upsets No.4 Lander, tops USC Aiken to take conference title

All season long, the Georgia College women’s basketball team’s goal was to win the Peach Belt Conference tournament.

Last weekend in Aiken, S.C., they made that goal a reality, first upsetting No. 4 Lander on March 5 in the PBC semifinals, 71-62, and then dismantling USC Aiken in the championship game, 62-49 on March 6. The Bobcats garnered the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Southeast Regionals and will play in the first round of the national tournament against Conference Carolinas Champion and No. 5 seed, Barton College on March 11 at 8 p.m.

Drake Simons | gcsunade.com

Senior guard Chimere Jordan was named the Peach Belt Conference Tournament MVP. She was also named first team All-Conference.

“I don’t want to say it’s an unbelievable feeling because we preached all year that we could do it,” said first year Head Coach Maurice Smith. “It’s a dream come true, no doubt; just to see all the sacrifice, the work and the team camaraderie come together at the right time. We are playing our best basketball right now, and it’s a blessing.”

“It’s every feeling I thought it would be,” said senior guard Dominique Huffin. “We came into the tournament with confidence; we knew we weren’t the same team from earlier in the year and that we’ve improved. We’ve got better chemistry, and we believe in ourselves and in our abilities.”

Against Lander, senior guard and first-team All Conference player Chimere Jordan was nothing short of dominant, pouring in 28 points (24 in the second half) and 15 boards to record her fifth double-double of the season. Fellow All Conference first teamer Huffin was equally impressive, scoring 19 points.

Down 31-23 at the half, the Bobcats were on fire in the second half, taking a 44-43 lead with 14:27 to play after sophomore guard Karisma Boykin had a layup. The Bearcats  regained the lead at 47-45, but Huffin put Georgia College back on top, 48-47 after hitting a three-pointer with 11:29 to play. Lander would tie the game one more time before Jordan’s three-pointer put the Bobcats ahead for good, 53-50 with 8:23 left. The Bearcats continued to pull close, but a 9-2 run over the final 3:53 gave the Bobcats the win.

In the championship game, the Bobcats topped USC Aiken, who upset previously unbeaten Clayton State in the semifinals, for the second time out of three games this season. Jordan, the tournament MVP, made it six double-doubles on the year with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman forward Krysta Lewis added in 11 points in just 21 minutes on the floor.

“It’s a dream come true, no doubt; just to see all the sacrifice, the work and the team camaraderie come together at the right time…”

Maurice Smith, Head Coach

Georgia College quickly jumped out to an early 15-4 lead in the opening 10 minutes. The Pacers slowly made a comeback, cutting the lead to 28-20 at the half, and taking the lead at 47-45 with 3:29 left to play in the game.

But the Bobcats buckled down, exploding for a 17-2 run the rest of the way to get the victory. Jordan’s jumper tied the game with 3:05 left, and another layup from her with 2:30 left put them on top for good at 49-47.

The Bobcats (22-6) were not phased after losing to both Lander and USC Aiken earlier in the season.

“Even the games we lost against those teams, we looked back and said we were so close, and we could have done a few things better to pull out the ballgame,” Smith said. “So we used that as a motivational factor. We were there with those teams in the regular season. This time right now, we are playing our best basketball, and we have the confidence to beat them. The girls were confident going in. We had a lot of energy. They were focused and believed that they could do it.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Mar 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.