Saturday, January 6, 2007

LADY SAINTS BATTLE BACK, FALL SHORT ON ROAD
Lady Saints come back from 21-point deficit in the second half

Savannah, GA – The North Georgia College & State University Lady Saints fell to Armstrong Atlantic State University 71-65 at Alumni Arena Saturday afternoon.

North Georgia found themselves down 21 with 15:44 remaining in the contest, but the young squad battled back on a 10-0 over the next three minutes. Freshman post Porsha White converted a three-point play the hard way, hitting a lay-up and converting a free throw with 15:17 remaining in the contest to trim the lead to 49-31. Syretha Marble converted one-of-two free throws the next trip down the floor to trim the lead to 49-32, and followed that up with a steal and lay-up with 14:00 remaining that cut the lead to 49-34. Megan Huffman converted a jump shot the next trip down the floor to trim the lead to 13:03 remaining to trim the lead to 49-36. Then Marble struck again with a lay-up with 12:42 remaining that trimmed the lead to 49-38.

Following a basket by Armstrong Atlantic, the Lady Saints went on another 10-0 run that was jump started by Lindsey Kitchens, as the sophomore drained the first of her two three-pointers on the run. The shot cut the lead to 51-41 with 11:27 remaining in the contest. Freshman Brooke Baker hit a 10-footer with 10:58 to go that cut the lead 51-43. The lead would continue to shrink as Marble connected on two free throws with 10:41 to go that cut it to 51-45. Kitchens struck again with 10:33 remaining, trimming the lead to 51-48.

Sarah Brown ended another scorless run for the Lady Pirates as she drained a three-pointer with 9:24 remaining to extended the lead to 54-48.

However, the Lady Saints never gave up as Huffman connected on two free throws with 8:39 remaining to trim the lead to 54-50. After a Kaneetha Gordon basket, Baker drained a three-pointer with 8:19 remaining in the contest that trimmed the lead 56-53. The three-pointer ended a 28-7 run by the Lady Saints over a span of 7:25 in the second half.

Even down seven points with just 1:30 remaining in the contest, the scrappy Lady Saints squad would not go down without a fight.

Following a turnover by Armstrong Atlantic, Marble converted a free throw with 50.8 seconds remaining that trimmed the lead 67-61. After a pair of missed free throws by the Lady Pirates, Huffman drained a pair of her own to trim the lead to 67-63 with 36.8 seconds remaining. After a lay-up by Nicole Hornage extended the lead back to six, Huffman hit a lay-up to trim it back to four with just 22 seconds remaining.

The Lady Pirates drained four-of-six free throws down the stretch for the final margin.

North Georgia finished the afternoon shooting 33.8 (23-for-68) percent from the floor, and just 18.8 (3-for-16) percent from behind the arc. They also shot 66.7 (126-for-24) percent from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, Armstrong Atlantic shot 37.3 (25-for-67) percent from the floor, and 33.3 (7-for-21) percent from behind the arc. They also shot just 58.3 (14-for-24) percent from the free throw line.

Huffman led all scorers with 17 points, on 9-for-10 shooting from the free throw line. White chipped in with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Marble added 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Gordon paced the Lady Pirates with 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Tana Griffiths added 11 points for AASU.

North Georgia (5-7, 0-2 PBC) hosts Lander University at 5:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Hall.

-NGCSU-

Box Score

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