Lady Hurricanes use high-pressure defense to score big win over Young Harris

Published 11:55 pm Monday, January 14, 2019

From Staff Reports

 

AMERICUS – The Georgia Southwestern State University women’s basketball team opened the Storm Dome for the first time in 2019 with a dominating 70-55 Peach Belt Conference victory over Young Harris College on Saturday, January 12. They did it primarily through high-pressure defense, forcing turnovers and three-point shooting.

GSW created 15 steals and forced a total of 25 turnovers en route to their second consecutive PBC win. The Lady Hurricanes also hit nine three-pointers on the day.

Brianna Perry got things going, getting the Lady Hurricanes the first two points on the board nearly two minutes into the game. YHC quickly followed up with a three-pointer, but the Lady Hurricanes went on an 8-2 run. The Mountain Lions were able to tie the game at 12-12. However, a three-pointer by Lex Chatman gave GSW a three-point lead. By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Hurricanes were up 16-14.

In the opening two minutes of the second quarter, both teams were scoreless until YHC’s Pamela Diokpara tied the game at 16-16 with 8:50 left in the half. A couple of minutes later, GSW’s Kris Beckham hit a three-pointer to increase the Lady Hurricanes’ lead to 23-20 midway through the second quarter before the Mountain Lions called a timeout to regroup.

Coming out of the timeout, YHC went on a 7-4 run to tie the game at 27-27 at the intermission.

The Lady Hurricanes got back-to-back three-pointers from Morgan Towells and Lele Young to open the second half. Midway through the third quarter, Chatman dropped another three-pointer, followed by another shot from beyond the arc by Young with 17 seconds left in the quarter. GSW shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in the third quarter alone.

Four seconds into the fourth quarter, Perry hit a three-pointer, starting a 25-point quarter for the Lady Hurricanes. Towells hit another three-pointer to put GSW up 70-53. At that point, the game was out of reach for the Mountain Lions as GSW got their third PBC win of the season.

Three GSW players scored in double-figures. Towells led the way for the Lady Hurricanes with 13 points and two steals. Young was also in double-figures. She scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds. Chatman, who nailed three three-pointers, scored a total of 10 points and grabbed five rebounds coming off the bench.

GSW improves to 6-6 overall and 3-3 in the PBC, while YHC drops to 3-11 overall and 1-7 in the PBC.

The Lady Hurricanes will travel up the road to Columbus on Wednesday, January 16, where they will take on Columbus State. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.