Friday, November 3, 2006

LADY SAINTS FALL TO NORTH DAKOTA
Upset bid falls short in second half

Orlando, FL –  The North Georgia College & State University Lady Saints' upset bid fell short, falling to second-ranked North Dakota 77-68 at the Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic here Friday evening.

The two teams battled neck-and-neck for the entire game, until a five-minute spurt in the second half when the Lady Saints were held without a field goal and North Dakota went on an 11-0 run to take a nine-point lead.

After a Rachael Jolley lay-up with 10:59 left to play in the game gave North Georgia a 53-51 lead, North Dakota called a timeout. Following the timeout, the Fighting Sioux held North Georgia without a field goal until the 5:29 mark.

Kayla Bagaason tied the game at 53-53 with 10:10 left to play with a lay-up. Neither team scored until the 9:07 mark when Bagaason hit another lay-up to give the Fighting Sioux a two-point lead at 55-53. Kierah Kimbrough extended the lead to 57-53 with a lay-up with 8:42 on the clock, before she connected on two free throws 42 seconds later to extend the lead to 59-53. The run would end at the 6:31 mark when Kimbrough connected on three-point play to extend the lead to 62-53.

Following a North Dakota turnover, Syretha Marble connected a lay-up with 5:29 remaining to trim the lead to 62-55. She would connect on a free throw at the 4:58 mark to trim the lead to six at 62-56. After a jumper by Danye Guinn extended the lead back to eight (64-56), Megan Huffman answered with her first three-pointer of the game with 4:05 remaining to cut the lead to 64-59. The Lady Saints would add another free throw to cut the lead to four, with 3:34 left to play, but that is as close as they would get over the final three minutes.

The Lady Saints led the game by nine points early on, opening the game on a 6-1 run, with junior transfer Kourtney Singleton scoring all six points. The Lady Saints transformed that into a 24-15 lead with 9:13 left to play in the first half.

The Lady Saints shot just 32.9 (23-for-70) percent from the floor, while North Dakota shot 44.4 (28-for-63) percent from the floor. North Georgia outrebounded North Dakota 47-42 for the contest.

Singleton led North Georgia (0-1) with 19 points and six rebounds on 7-for-17 shooting from the floor. Marble added 18 points and six rebounds on 7-for-13 shooting from the floor, while junior post Jolley added 10 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Jolley grabbed seven offensive rebounds and provided a spark against the taller North Dakota post players.

Meanwhile, North Dakota (1-0) was led in scoring by Kimbrough with 13 points, while Kelsey Maffin and Guinn added 12 in the win. Ashley Langen and Whitney Ledger added 11 points for the Fighting Sioux.

North Georgia plays Texas A&M-Commerce (1-0) tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in their second game of the Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic.

-NGCSU-

Box Score

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