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GSW's Nadirah Gardner drives baseline against Clayton State Wednesday night. The Lady Hurricanes' attendance has risen only three people this season despite courting a much improved team.
Chris Fenn / GSW Sports Information


Published February 04, 2010 09:51 am -

GSW needs 6th man
Basketball teams need fans to help defend home court

Chris Whitaker
The Americus Times-Recorder

AMERICUS — Get it together basketball fans.

The Georgia Southwestern women’s basketball team is having the most success this season since joining NCAA Division II.

But yet, where’s the crowd, or in layman terms, the 6th man.

The Lady Hurricanes lost a 2-point decision, 56-54, to No. 15 Clayton State on Wednesday night with 242 people in attendance. They were a shot away from tying the game in the final seconds, and Clayton State could have been distracted more on its end if fans were in the student section — or even more fans in stands — to make some noise.

The men battled shot for shot with the Lakers before a forced 3-pointer at the end helped Clayton State escape 64-63. Only 20 people were in the student section on the court when the game started, and they were all student-athletes. The attendance for the game was 361.

Before the final 16 seconds of the game when a Clayton State player attempted two free throws to give the Lakers the one-point lead, the loudest the crowd had been all night was when coach Mike Leeder picked up a technical foul, and the chant of "Leeder" ensued. The other time was when GSW staff threw out Crunch bars as part of its marketing tools.

That's just sad.

Both games could have possibly turned out different if the crowd was into the game making noise.

The GSW women are 4-5 in the conference and 9-11 overall this season with a much improved team after they won eight games last year and three in conference play.

The likes of Brittany Reynolds and Whitley Wiltz could very well be in the talk for making All-Conference this year, and a few of the newcomers like Jessica Bivins could be as well.

Bivins scored 30 points and drained six 3-pointers in the team’s win against Augusta State last Thursday.

It’s been five seasons since that feat was last achieved and six for a Lady Hurricane to drain six threes.

GSW lost to Lander — No. 10 in the country — on Saturday with a measly 203 people in attendance.

Coach Kelly Britsky talks of defending the home court to make sure the Lady Hurricanes clinch their first berth in the Peach Belt Tournament. The team has to play well to do that, but it also means fans are needed to make the Storm Dome loud and a hard place to play.

Even with the men’s game on Saturday, which had an attendance of 277. The game eventually went into overtime and the Hurricanes lost, but where was the crowd when the Bearcats had the ball with under a minute left and down three or in overtime. It was basically silent for the most part. The student section was almost empty.



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