Peach Belt leaders from North Georgia take two on Bobcat court

Published 3:06 pm Thursday, January 9, 2025

Grand opportunities to make a statement in a college basketball season sometimes come early and come up on an upstart team quickly.

The Georgia College & State University women had such a chance Wednesday at The Centennial Center facing the unbeaten and Peach Belt Conference leading North Georgia Nighthawks. Senior forward Jada Warren had another colossal rebounding effort grabbing 20 boards, and sophomore guard Hannah Cail led all scorers with 22 points, but their production didn’t come when it was needed most. North Georgia was able to slip out of Milledgeville winners of an 80-75 final to remain unbeaten at 13-0 (3-0 in conference) while Georgia College dropped to 1-2 in the Peach Belt and 8-5 overall.

Caroline Martin was one of three Nighthawk players scoring in double figures as she netted 20 points. Emily Trushel had 16 points and Kendall Emener 13.

Lady Bobcat senior guard Ashyia Willis also had a steller game with 17 points and tied Cail for the team lead in assists Wednesday each with four.

The area that favored North Georgia the most was at the free-throw line. Twenty-two fouls called on Georgia College led to 22 North Georgia foul shots, and the visitors made 19. The Bobcat women had 10 free throws in comparison out of three players and only made five, the same as the final margin. Rebounds were even at 36 each as were turnovers, 14 each.

Willis, with five seconds left in the first quarter, hit a jumper to account for the final tally of 18-16 in favor of the Nighthawks. The teams showed they were ready to treat the Centennial audience to an offensive show with accurate long-range shooting. The second quarter began with Averie Jones scoring 3 for North Georgia but then Miracle Parker and Cain hitting back-to-back shots from outside the arc for the hosts.

And there was a lot of rebounding on offense by Warren, one of the tops in the nation for Division II women to go with those 3-balls. Cail stuck another one as did Martin, and then it was defense from the Lady Bobcats that put the score in their favor as the game moved towards halftime. Cail’s steal led to a basket for back-up guard Deshona Gaither, and then Gaither took the basketball away and scored another field goal.

With Parker blocking a shot, Willis found Cail for her third 3-pointer of the quarter. GCSU had its biggest lead at 32-26. North Georgia ran off six in a row to achieve a tie, but another reserve in the backcourt, Chandler Davis, penetrated to get the advantage back. Warren’s offensive boardwork led to points in a 6-0 Bobcat run.

Evie DePetro, from the corner, closed out the half with a 3-pointer to counter the late make by Martin. GCSU was up by two, 41-39, at the break.

The Bobcats maintained some offensive flow early in the third quarter with Cail’s old-fashioned 3-point play off penetration and a 3 by Nylah Nuri coming after a near giveaway. Up 49-45, the home team began to see momentum shift towards North Georgia, who scored 10 of their 19 points from the foul line.

At 3:24, Warren converted Gaither’s high-low feed to make it 53-50, then North Georgia scored the next six, taking the lead for good at 2:32. Willis gave the Bobcats one more basket before the period ended at 58-55 Nighthawks.

North Georgia attacked the basket without much resistance due to the fouling concerns GCSU seemed to have. Davis provided some scoring spark to get her total in the game to 12, but her team could only get as close at two. But all the other good things the Bobcats saw early stopped happening with a lot of one-shot possessions and bad bounces from the rim.

BOBCAT-NIGHTHAWK MEN

Wednesday’s college basketball action at the Centennial Center also featured the team with the top winning percentage among the men’s Peach Belt teams, North Georgia, against the team at the bottom of the list, Georgia College. Much like the women’s game before it, foul shooting was as big a factor as anything as the Nighthawk men, going 20-for-34 at the stripe, won 75-69 in overtime to improve to 3-0 in the Peach Belt (tied with Augusta), 11-4 overall.

The Bobcat men, who only took 10 free throws Wednesday, dropped to 5-8 overall and 0-3 in the PBC.

North Georgia had four players – all starters – score in double figures led by Cayden Charles’ 22 points. AJ White added 18.

Georgia College also had four in double figures scoring with a big 16-point effort coming from big center Dallas Clayton. Zyair Greene, a recent PBC Player of the Week, netted 14 points. Luke Krawczyk came off the bench to score 13 points before fouling out, and Ian Davis came off the bench to nail four 3-pointers.

Turnovers were another factor to hinder the Bobcats as they committed 13, and North Georgia scored 15 points off those mistakes.

In fact, with back-to-back takeaways, the Nighthawks completed a 7-0 run in the first half to lead 17-8. Davis stopped that streak with the first of two 3’s that brought the Bobcats within seven at 21-14. Clayton would later stick in two offensive rebounds to keep the deficit at six, 26-20.

But GCSU had terrible luck shooting inside overall with a 34.5 first-half percentage (10-for-29). The hosts also lost the ball in transition, and the other way the Nighthawks completed another 7-0 run. The Bobcats had two more turnovers in the halfcourt set, but got a defensive break from Clayton’s block. Davis nailed his third 3-pointer, but when GC cut the lead to six North Georgia sped down the court to beat the halftime buzzer and lead 35-27 at the break.

Clayton, Greene and Mason Etter began the second half with a lot of production. They combined to give the Bobcats only their second lead of the night at 38-37. North Georgia responded and regained command with an 8-0 run, one Krawczyk ended with a 3 at the 11-minute mark. Krawczyk and freshman guard Khalil Green combined for five points to close the gap to one, 47-46.

When the score got to 56-50 for North Georgia, the scoreboard showed nine team fouls on the Bobcats to two by the visitors. But there were also missed lay-ins that led to a 61-50 score.

That, however, was the end of North Georgia’s scoring in regulation time. At 3:08, Davis made his fourth 3, and then Greene – almost two minutes later – stuck an off balance shot from the top of the key. Being off balance, he was fouled on the play, made the free throw, and tied the score 61-61. Nobody could change that in the final 1:26, and it was on to an additional five minutes.

Clayton’s jumper started overtime, Aidan Kudlas had his only basket of the game, and Krawczyk hit his fourth 3-pointer. Ahead 68-66, the Bobcats saw North Georgia make six winning points in a row at the foul line. Georgia College didn’t get to the one-and-one bonus until the 23-second mark.

USC-AIKEN RESULTS

Ashyia Willis made double-digit points once again as she crept closer to 1,000 points in her career as Georgia College & State University defeated the University of South Carolina-Aiken 60-46 in a Peach Belt Conference women’s basketball game Jan. 4 inside the USC Convocation Center.

GCSU started the contest on the right foot, opening with a 9-2 run in the first five minutes, capped off by a Willis jump shot. The quarter continued this way as the Bobcats held the Pacers at bay, finishing the first quarter with a five-point lead (18-13).

The Pacers tied the Bobcats early in the second quarter, evening everything at 18; however, Chandler Davis quickly restored Georgia College’s lead, and an Evie DePetro three-pointer and Hannah Cail layup gave the Bobcats a seven-point lead (27-20) before the end of the half.

Nevertheless, the Bobcats would start slowly exiting the locker room, which the Pacers quickly took advantage of. A Paris Webster jump shot would provide USC Aiken with its only lead at 32-31 midway through the third quarter. This would promptly disappear as DePetro would knock down two jumpers, and Davis would finish two layups to give the Bobcats a five-point lead within the next minute. A Miracle Parker three-pointer with 15 seconds on the clock would give the Bobcats a seven-point lead (45-38) heading into the game’s final 10 minutes.

The Bobcats wouldn’t let up in the fourth quarter as a Willis jump shot would give the Bobcats their first double-digit lead of the night at 51-40, and it would continue that way for the remainder of the contest.

Willis led the Bobcats with 15 points and now is just three points (997) away from becoming the 19th Bobcat in program history to score 1,000 points in her career. Jada Warren tacked on another double-digit rebound performance with 17. Cail would add nine points, while DePetro and Davis would each add eight.

Zyair Greene, Ian Davis, Luke Krawczyk, and Dallas Clayton all scored in double figures as the quartet combined for 54 points total as Georgia College & State Univeristy fell just short against the University of South Carolina-Aiken 71-68 in a Peach Belt Conference men’s basketball game Jan. 4 inside the USCA Convocation Center.

Georgia College opened the afternoon with a steady lead over USC Aiken. A three-pointer by Greene gave the Bobcats a nine-point lead (13-4) within the first five minutes of the contest. However, a 10-1 run, finished by a three-pointer by Rhyjon Blackwell, would get the Pacers back into the game. The Bobcats wouldn’t take their feet off the gas for the remainder of the half, scoring multiple three-pointers via Davis and Mason Etter and applying pressure to the Pacers, allowing them to enter halftime with an eight-point lead (32-24).

The second half opened the same way the first half ended, with a Khalil Green three-pointer in the opening minutes giving the Bobcats their second double-digit lead (42-31) of the evening. However, almost instantaneously, the Pacers answered back, as a 14-3 run evened things up at 45. The lead constantly flipped back and forth throughout the remainder of the matinee, leading to the last minutes in which everything was tied at 65. The Pacers connected on five of six free throw attempts to open up a 70-65 lead with seven seconds. USC Aiken went 28-of-37 (.757) from the charity stripe to offset its poor shooting from the floor – 19-of-67 (.287). A last-minute three-pointer by Greene helped them get close, but it was too late.

Greene led the Bobcats with 19 points, while Krawczyk (12), Davis (12) and Clayton (11) also finished in double figures. Krawcyzk and Kudlas each led GCSU with six rebounds, while Clayton pulled down five. James Nichols III helped lock down the Pacers on defense, tallying three blocks.