Women's Basketball 2011-12 Notes - Feb. 27

  Armstrong Atlantic State (13-13, 7-11) --  The Armstrong Atlantic State University women's basketball team dropped a pair of games in its final week of action, falling short of a PBC Tournament berth on a tiebreaker with Augusta State ... The Pirates watched Francis Marion score the final six points of the contest over the last 2:30 to notch a 66-63 win on Monday ... Armstrong then missed a game-tying shot attempt at the buzzer in a 55-53 loss to Augusta State on Saturday ... Both the Pirates and the Jaguars finished the season with 7-11 marks in the PBC, but Augusta State won the tiebreaker because of a better East Division record ... With no seniors on the team, the Pirates will return all 13 players for 2012-13 ... Sophomore Mauri Wells put the cap on another outstanding season, finishing Saturday's game with 14 rebounds, giving her 338 for the season - the fourth-most in a single season in Armstrong women's basketball history and the most since Renee Rice had 354 in 1991-92.
 

 Augusta State (12-14, 7-11) --  Augusta State took No. 19 Lander down to the wire before edging Armstrong Atlantic 55-53 to earn their first PBC Tournament appearance under head coach Nate Teymer...Brittany White notched a double-double against Lander, scoring 15 points and tallying 11 assists...She also went 10-of-10 from the line and snagged eight rebounds...She followed it up with 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting at Armstrong...Six players scored in double figures on the week: White, Tiffany Jaecks (12), J Ashby (12), Laci Schreiber (11), Becky Newhouse (11), and Marina Fox (10)...Schreiber grabbed 15 boards, including six offensive, in the win over the Pirates...White ranks tied for 12th nationally with 3.2 steals per game...She also ranks 4th in the PBC with 4.9 assists a contest and 9th in field goal percentage (.482)...Senior Amber Peterson is third in 3-PT percentage, knocking down 43.1 percent...Schreiber checks in ninth in rebounds per game (7.3)...The Lady Jaguars take on PBC regular-season champ Clayton State in the first round of the conference tournament Thursday, March 1 at 1:00 p.m.
 

 

 Clayton State (26-2, 16-1) -- The Clayton State Lakers finished the regular season 26-2 overall and 16-1 in the Peach Belt Conference, clinching the PBC regular season title with two victories in the week – 78-44 over Montevallo on Wednesday and 93-58 over Georgia College on Saturday… The Lakers gave head coach Dennis Cox his 500th career coaching victory in the win over Montevallo as junior forward Kayla Mobley scored a career-high 22 points and Shacamra Jackson and Keona Dixon each added 10 points… Clayton State celebrated “Senior Night” and the final regular season home games for seniors Tanisha Woodard and Brittany Hall with the victory over Georgia College. Woodard recorded only the fourth triple-double in the history of Peach Belt women’s basketball with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, while Drameka Griggs paced the Lakers with 20 points...With four steals on Saturday, Woodard became the all-time leader in steals in the Peach Belt with 408… The PBC regular season title was the fifth for Clayton State in Cox’s eight seasons at the Laker helm… Woodard is now ranked second all-time at Clayton State in scoring with 1,324 points, while Hall is ranked fifth with 1,096… Clayton State retained its No. 4 ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll for a third straight week… Woodard leads the Peach Belt in both steals and assists, and is ranked fifth in blocked shots and seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio… Woodard is ranked 10th in the nation in steals and 21st in assists… As a team, Clayton State is ranked fourth in the nation in turnover margin, scoring margin and blocked shots, fifth in steals and sixth in scoring defense… Clayton State plays in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Thursday at 1 p.m. against Augusta State at the Lumpkin Center at Columbus State.
Columbus State (16-10, 11-6) --  The Columbus State University women’s basketball team won two key games including defeating Georgia Southwestern 64-54 in the regular season finale to secure the second seed from the Peach Belt Conference West Division in the upcoming tournament…On Wednesday (2/22), CSU forced 22 North Georgia turnovers and held them to a 31.6 shooting percentage as the Lady Cougars won the game 58-43 in Dahlonega...North Georgia would be held without a point for almost seven minutes midway through the second half as CSU cruised to the victory…Dominique Gilbert scored 16 points while Asha Alexander and Shan Basley netted in 12 and 11, respectively…As a team, CSU went 2-for-20 from three-point range…On Saturday (2/25), Georgia Southwestern jumped out to a 13-1 lead with 15:37 showing on the clock in the first half before Columbus State slowly chipped away at the deficit eventually making it a two-point game (34-32) at the break…After Asha Alexander made the first two baskets of the second half giving the Lady Cougars a 36-34 lead, which was their first of the game, CSU exploded going on a 21-8 run to put the game away…Dominique Gilbert recorded her 11th double-double of the season scoring a game high 15 points while grabbing 10 rebounds…She also became the single-season record holder at CSU for blocks in a season rejecting five shots…Alexander and Letiecia Davenport scored 12 and 11 points, respectively…Columbus State will play in its 21st consecutive Peach Belt Conference Tournament beginning on Thursday…The Lady Cougars will take on UNC Pembroke at 7:00 p.m…It will be just the second meeting between these two schools in tournament history with CSU defeating UNCP 87-54 in 1994.
Flagler (4-22, 2-16) --  Flagler finished the 2011-12 season with one win and one loss.  The Saints began the week with a non-conference win over Palm Beach Atlantic 57-51, then finished the season wtih a 69-49 loss to #10 USC Aiken. At Palm Beach Atlantic, Treva Mason led the attack with 19 points and also added 10 rebounds.  Shelbi Lindsey also had a a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards while Jen Knurek added 10 more rebounds.  Against USCA, Mason led the team agains with 17 points while Charlea Owen and Latesha Johnson scored 10 each.  Knurek led with 11 rebounds.  For the season, Taye'Lor Trotter led the team in scoring with 9.9 points per game while Mason had 7.6 rebounds per game, ranked 8th in the PBC.
Francis Marion (9-17, 4-14) -- FMU split its final two games, coming within a last-second heave of a road upset of 10th-ranked USCA....FMU outscored AASU 18-2 over the last 6:30 to beat the Pirates....Sophomore guard Brittany Christian averaged 14 ppg last week. She hit 34 of her last 80 three-point attempts....Senior center T.T. Belcher averaged 10.5 ppg and 9 rpg last week, and finished her career with 482 points and 548 rebounds....Junior point guard Carmella Thompson is ranked among the top seven in the PBC in assists (2nd), rebounding (6th) and steals (7th).... FMU held 14 of its 26 opponents under 39% shooting....Junior guard Kristen Dickerson was named to the 2012 PBC WBB All-Academic Team....FMU outrebounded its opponents by 4.1 rpg....FMU is 64-5 in its last 69 games when scoring 85 points or more (over 12 seasons)....9 of the 13 Patriots scored in double figures at least once this season....FMU honored three players on Senior Night: Belcher, forward Simone Trice, and center Danielle Gibson.
Georgia College (4-22, 2-15) -- The GC women dropped their final pair of games for the 2012 season, losing an overtime heartbreaker against Georgia Southwestern 91-85, before falling to No. 4 Clayton State 93-58 … In game one, the Bobcats held the lead at halftime and continued this trend up until the final horn when a ‘Cane three at the buzzer knotted the game at 79 … GC would only muster six points in the extra frame eventually falling 91-85 … Freshman Shanteona Keys led all scorers with 28 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field and an eye-popping 13-of-17 from the charity-stripe … Krysta Lewis and Enisha Donley added 22 points each on 9-of-22 and 9-of-18 shooting, respectively … GC would fall in game two on the week despite a career-high 29 points from Keys … She went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and 7-for-10 from the free-throw line … Belinda Schaafsma notched 11 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out three assists … Freshman Hollyn Phelps did a great job off the bench pulling down seven rebounds … Keys looks to grab Peach Belt Freshman of the Year honors as she is among the league leaders in a number of statistical categories, ranking second in scoring at 16.6 point a game and fourth with a 77.6 free-throw percentage … In conference games only, Keys averaged 18.6 points a game, also good for second.
Georgia Southwestern (18-8, 10-7) -- The Georgia Southwestern Lady Hurricanes wrapped up their final week of the regular season splitting games against Georgia College and Columbus State. Despite losing the finale 64-54 at Columbus State University, GSW put the finishing touches on the program’s best regular season in the NCAA Division II era with a 18-8 mark overall and 10-7 in conference play. It also earned the Lady ‘Canes their second-ever Peach Belt Tournament berth and the first since the 2009-10 season. It was a night to remember in GSW’s 91-85 overtime victory over Georgia College on Senior Night. Terra Branch stole the spotlight leading her team in scoring, banking in a 25-foot heave to send the game to overtime, setting a new career high in assists and joining the exclusive 1,000 point club in her farewell performance in front of the home crowd. Coach Britsky and company will end the year leading the Peach Belt Conference in three-point percentage and rebounding. They finish the season ranked in the top three of the conference in scoring, free throw percentage and steals per game.
 

 Lander (20-6, 15-3) --  Lander moved to No. 19 last week in the USA Today/ESPN National Poll. In the final week of the regular season, Lander defeated Augusta State, 75-68, then lost to UNC Pembroke, 63-62. Going into the Augusta State game, senior Brittni Johnson needed just 15 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone and finished with a game-high 22. Seniors Ciara Lyons and Jasmine Judge had already reached the 1,000-mark and Mukia Myrick, another senior, is just 11 points away at 989. In the latest NCAA statistics, Judge is second nationally in three pointers made per game (3.8). As a team, Lander is sixth in steals (14.3) and assists (18.2) per game, and ninth in scoring margin (+15.9).
 

 Montevallo (11-15, 6-11) -- The Falcons closed out the regular season with a loss at Clayton State and a win at home against North Georgia. With the win over North Georgia the Falcons secured the fourth and final tournament slot from the west division. This marks the second-straight trip for the Falcons to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament. UM was led this week by senior Tiffany McClure who scored 15.5 points per game. She started the week with 15 points against Clayton and then scored 16 in the win over North Georgia. She also had five assists in the victory. Freshman Taylor Beverly continues to lead the Falcons on the season as she is averaging 10.0 points per game. She has 5.3 rebounds per game is shooting 45.9 percent from the field. McClure is second on the Falcon squad with 9.5 points per game while junior Teanna Boxley is third at 9.1 points per game. The Falcons are set to take on USC Aiken in the opening round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Thursday. The Falcons fell by just five points at home to the Pacers and held the lead with five minutes to play in the game.
 

 North Georgia (12-14, 6-11) --  Notes not submitted.
 

 UNC Pembroke (15-11, 12-6) -- The Lady Braves used an impressive field goal shooting percentage of 42.6 percent to give UNCP the advantage in its only game of the week with a 63-62 victory over No. 19 Lander on Saturday … UNCP recorded its highest number of wins in conference action since joining the NCAA Division II in 1992 and also marked the most wins in conference action under head coach John Haskins … The Lady Braves posted their fourth-consecutive victory this season and have won seven of their last eight games ... The Lady Braves snapped a six-game losing streak in the series with Lander and captured their first victory in Horne Arena since Jan. 31, 2007 … The victory marked the second time this season that the Black and Gold have defeated a nationally-ranked team and the first time that accomplishment has been achieved in school history … UNCP has shot more than 40.0 percent from the field for three-straight games and for the 12th time this season … The Black and Gold were led by four athletes in double figures as Amelia Partin led the offense with 18 points … Taylor Gallentine and Jasmine Hairston each drained 12 points, while DeDe Cotten notched 11 points and led the defense with nine rebounds … The East Division's third-seeded Lady Braves look ahead to the first round of the PBC Tournament on Wednesday against the West Division's second-seed Columbus State … The game is set to begin at 7 p.m. in Columbus, Ga., inside the Lumpkin Center.
 

 USC Aiken (23-3, 16-2) -- The nationally 10th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken women’s basketball team claimed the Peach Belt Conference East Division No. 1 seed outright in the 2011-12 regular season with a 16-2 mark in league play … USC Aiken finished the 2011-12 regular season with a 23-3 record overall … The Pacers closed the final week of the regular season with wins over Francis Marion and Flagler … USC Aiken’s 65-63 home win over Francis Marion left the Pacers a perfect 12-0 at home during the 2011-12 regular season … The undefeated slate gives the USC Aiken women's basketball program its first undefeated home campaign since the 1977-78 season … USC Aiken picked up a 69-49 road win over Flagler in its regular season finale on Saturday, Feb. 25 … USC Aiken (23-3, 16-2 PBC) will commence the Peach Belt Conference Tournament in Columbus, Ga. by playing at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 against Peach Belt Conference West Division No. 4 Montevallo … The Pacers enter the PBC Tournament having won their last seven games.

 

The University of Montevallo women’s basketball team returns six players from last season’s squad that went 14-13 and 7-10 in PBC play. UM welcomes a new coaching staff including first year head coach Mechan Vanderpool and assistant coach Brittany Godsey. Coach Vanderpool brought in five new recruits to bolster the UM line-up which returns just one starter from last season. UM’s top returning player is senior Carrie Parrott who averaged 9.6 points per game and 5.6 rebounds. The Falcons open up the season with an exhibition game against Division I foe Mississippi State University. UM’s first four regular season games will be on the road before they open up at home Nov. 23 against Concordia College-Selma.