Following a brief Christmas break, Georgia College & State University (GCSU) women’s basketball (9-7, 1-5 PBC) is now fighting through a win drought. The Bobcats have played four conference games since returning and suffered a setback in each, beginning Jan. 4, at home against Augusta University.
The visiting Jaguars had the hot hands in the first quarter, netting an impressive 17 points compared to GCSU’s six. However, Georgia College outscored Augusta in the second and third quarters to pull within a single point of Augusta going into the final quarter. The Bobcats battled hard until the end but ultimately took a 47-41 loss.
Alexa Geary, out of Calhoun, led GCSU’s scoring efforts with 14 points after going 5-for-13 from field-goal range. Florida native Dashaun Jackson was 3-for-3 from field-goal range and placed second in team scoring with eight points. Jada Warren, the Bobcats’ big post from Norcross, led the rebounding effort with an impressive 13, most of which came under the Bobcat basket.
Next up for the Bobcats was another home game Jan. 7, against No. 14-nationally ranked Georgia Southwestern State University.
The upset bid was temporarily within the grasp of GCSU after the Bobcats secured a firstquarter lead of 16-15, but GSW answered with a 22-9 effort in the second quarter alone to put any hope to rest.
The second half looked much like the first ended, with a dominant performance by the Hurricane offense for a 72-48 victory over the Bobcats. It represented one of the lower-scoring games for GCSU this season, as only Geary reached double digits in scoring, with 15 after going 5-for-15 in field goals, including a trio of three-point buckets.
GCSU continued conference play Jan. 11, on the road at USC Aiken, where Gainesville native Ashyia Willis led the Bobcat scoring effort with 14 points, going 6-for-10 from field-goal range. Marietta’s Harper Vick was right behind her with 13 points as the team’s second-leading scorer, while Warren again led the rebounding effort with eight.
The Bobcats’ 63 total points was still not enough, however, as the USC women defended their home turf with an 80-point effort on the night.
The GCSU women were back home at the Centennial Center last Saturday, to take on another nationally ranked team, the No.
16 University of North Georgia Nighthawks.
Again, GCSU had the upset bid going strong after the first quarter with a 10-4 lead, then took a 22-18 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
The Nighthawks came out hot in the second half, though, netting 16 points to the Bobcats’ 11 in the third quarter, then 28 in the final quarter to reach the 60-48 final.
Georgia College had two double-digit scorers in the contest, as Myra Strickland led the way for her team with 12 points and Willis contributed 10 to the cause. Strickland led the charge, shooting 4-for-8 from behind the three-point arc, while Willis scored all of her points within the arc.
At press time, GCSU women’s basketball had four games left in January, plus eight games scheduled in February to complete its regular season. Visit the team online at gcbobcats.com/ sports/wbkb/index for its remaining schedule and to look up game and individual player statistics.