Friday, February 25, 2005
#13 LADY SAINTS WIN 4 TH STRAIGHT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
60-53 Win Over Brewton-Parker College Gives NGCSU Regular Season Championship
Mt. Vernon, Ga. – Using tenacious defense and capitalizing on scoring opportunities, the 13 th ranked North Georgia College & State University women's basketball team won a share of the regular season title, locked up the #1 seed in the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament, and guaranteed an unprecedented seventh consecutive trip to the NAIA National Tournament.
The top two scoring teams in the conference struggled to find the hoop Thursday night as both sides defense swarmed over each other. Both teams scored over 30 points in the first half, but the Lady Barons (29-2, 17-2) only scored 21 points in the second and the Lady Saints (22-7, 18-2) mustered only 24 points.
North Georgia used good shot selection in the first half and hit 54% (13-for-24) of their shots while limiting BPC to only 29% (10-for-25) in the first. In the second half, the Lady Barons shot 11 balls from behind the three-point line to mount a comeback, but only connected for one of the shots for a combined 4-for-24 from behind the arc in the game. In contrast, Lady Saints senior forward Brandi Owen (Cornelia, Ga.) took the only two three's in the game for North Georgia and connected on both.
Owen scored 13 points for the Lady Saints along with junior guard Katie Williamson (Suwanee, Ga.) who scored a game high 19 points. Junior forward Jeanine Dorminey (Tifton, Ga.) and freshman guard Megan Huffman (Woodstock, Ga.) both pulled down 11 rebounds in the game as North Georgia out rebounded BPC 46-34 in the game.
Junior guard's Dannisha Winfrey (Patterson, N.J.) and Ashley Little (Lawrenceville, Ga.) were the top scorers for the Lady Barons with 14 and 12 points apiece. Senior forward Crystal McNeil (Pensacola, Fla.) struggled from the floor, but did grab 11 rebounds.
After returning from Mt. Vernon at 1:00 a.m. in the morning, head coach Buffie Burson led the team into Memorial Gymnasium to cut down the nets and celebrate their fourth straight regular season conference championship. It also marked the eighth time in nine years that the Lady Saints will travel to Jackson, Tennessee to play in the NAIA National Tournament.
With the win, North Georgia will now look toward the SSAC Tournament hosted by Berry College. The Lady Saints will play on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. and will take on the eighth seed in the tournament. BPC will play one more game before the tournament this Saturday in Rome against Shorter College at 2:00 p.m.
Box Score
Return to Women's Basketball
Return to: NGCSU Home
