Lady Hurricanes defeat Clayton State to win second straight

Published 6:57 pm Thursday, January 25, 2018

By Staff Reports

 

AMERICUS – The GSW Lady Hurricanes used a second-half run and strong defense to notch a 58-52 win over the Lady Lakers in the Storm Dome Wednesday Night.

Many youth players, coaches and parents were there to celebrate Sumter County Parks and Recreation Night with the Georgia Southwestern State men’s and women’s teams.

It was an historic win for the Lady Hurricanes. Since GSW transitioned to the NCAA Division II level, the Lady Hurricanes had only beaten Clayton State once in GSW history, until Wednesday night. The first win over the Lady Lakers was a 71-59 win on January 27, 2016 at the Storm Dome.

Amanda Melosky nearly had a double-double. She scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead GSW. Tyisha Moore also scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Lady Lakers were led by Aleisha Merriweather’s 13 points and eight rebounds.

With the win, GSW has now won two straight. They improve to 6-10 overall and 3-9 in the Peach Belt Conference.

Both teams struggled to shoot the ball in the first quarter. GSW shot 4-of-13 from the field while Clayton State shot 5-of-17. Clayton State had an early 10-4 lead before the Lady Hurricanes went on a 7-2 run to close out the first quarter, trailing 12-11.

GSW shot 7-of-11 in the second quarter and led 29-24 at halftime.

With the score tied at 31 in the third quarter, the Lady Hurricanes went on a 10-6 run to take a 41-37 lead with 3:50 to go in the third.

GSW played solid defense in the fourth quarter and went on a 14-6 run through the first eight minutes to take a 12-point lead. Clayton State was not able to recover, and the Lady Hurricanes held on for a 58-52 victory.

The defensive effort by the Lady Hurricanes was stellar, as they held Clayton State to 28.8 percent shooting on the night. The Lady Hurricanes out-rebounded the Lady Lakers 54-45, and the GSW bench outscored the Clayton State bench 28-13.