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From Staff Reports

AMERICUS – Behind the 29 points scored by senior guard Ava Jones, the Georgia Southwestern State University women’s basketball team (GSW) was able to punch its ticket to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament finals for the first time in program history with a convincing 72-55 win over the University of North Georgia on Thursday night, March 2, in the Storm Dome.

“We’re fired up about. Ava really took over in the second half. She was remarkable down the stretch, all throughout the second half,” GSW Head Coach Justin Payne said. “She got in foul trouble in the first half, but I let her know at halftime. I said ‘Look! Focus on us and carry us’. We felt like we had a good mismatch with whoever was guarding her tonight and, you know, she showed it.”

The senior guard from Carencro, LA put the Hurricanes on her back in the second half and took control of a game that was only in favor of GSW by two points at the break at 31-29. Jones scored 16 points in the third quarter and added eight in the fourth, with six points coming from the free throw line, to seal the win. She shot 53 percent from the field for the game, grabbed four rebounds and added four steals. Jones was one of two GSW players to score in double figures.

“I came out a little slow, but I picked it up in the second half. I gave my team a spark,” Jones said. “We played great as a team and we came out with the win.”

GSW senior guard Jacquelyn Levay was clutch down the stretch, as she scored nine of her 16 points in the fourth quarter and finished with four rebounds.

The Hurricanes’ final test will be against sixth-seeded Young Harris College in the championship game of the PBC Tournament in the Storm Dome on Saturday, March 4, at 1 p.m.. Young Harris knocked off USC Aiken in the first round and upset the No. 2 seeded Clayton State in the first semifinal game on Thursday.