The Georgia College and State University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams faced off at home against the Lander University Bearcats on Saturday, Jan. 18. The tight competition between the teams ultimately concluded with a 69-61 victory for the Bobcat women and an 88-86 overtime loss for the Bobcats men’s team.
With its most recent victory, the women’s team is now 10-6 overall and 3-3 within the Peach Belt Conference.
The game quickly turned into a scoring match between the two teams, with GCSU scoring 17 points in the first quarter, and Lander scoring 18. The Bobcats picked up speed shortly after, scoring 21 points in the second quarter, 16 in the third, and 15 in the fourth.
Ross Jolly, head coach of the GCSU women’s team, shared his thoughts on the performance shortly after the game. He credited the team’s performance to being “very official on the offensive end.”
“We shot the ball well, 46% overall, and to go along with that, we had 14 offensive boards and also won the game on the boards by 20,” Jolly said. “That was huge win against a good rebounding team.”
Sophomore guard Hannah Cail helped lead the team’s victory by scoring 25 points for the Bobcats, ultimately reaching a new careerhigh of points per game.
“I thought we locked in on the scouting for the whole 40 minutes,” Cail said. “The shots were falling, and we played well as a team.”
After losing in their overtime thriller against Lander, the Georgia College men’s team holds an overall record of 5-11, and 0-6 in the Peach Belt Conference.
Throughout the game, the lead went back and forth between the two teams, and GCSU trailed 39-32 at the half. The Bobcats bounced back in the second half and eventually took the lead to 52-51 after sophomore guard Oscar Lynch shot a threepointer with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
The second half of the game resulted in a 77-77 tie, to push the game into the five-minute overtime. Lander brought home the victory after scoring 11 points in the extra period, and the Bobcats scored 9.
Regardless of the outcome, the Bobcats men’s basketball coach Ryan Aquino said he was is pleased with the team’s effort.
“[It was] a tough battle, and it could have gone either way. I hate it for these guys because they are busting it, and giving it everything they got,” said Aquino. “It’s been a long season, and we just need to try and get that momentum going.”
Junior guard Zyair Greene is currently the team’s season leader, with an average of 19.9 points per game, and led the team in points on Saturday by putting 26 on the board. Despite being okay with his performance, he is ready to return to practice.
“We’ve got to figure out how to win these games down the stretch,” Greene said. “Just got to watch this one, get back to practice, and try to figure out how to get it running.”
GCSU’s basketball teams are set to host their next home games on Feb. 1 against USC Aiken.