COLUMBUS -– The University of North Georgia women's basketball team's hot streak continued Thursday afternoon as the Saints, the four-seed out of the West Division, knocked off No. 24 Augusta State University 70-60 in the opening game of the 2013 Marvin Vanover Peach Belt Conference Basketball Tournament hosted by Columbus State University.
The Saints (13-14) entered the tournament having won their last three games, and four of their last five, to make the field while Augusta State (21-6), the one-seed out of the East, ends the season after having won 20 games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The two met earlier in the season in Dahlonega, Ga. where the Jaguars escaped with a two-point, 54-52.
North Georgia ended the quarterfinal contest with three players having scored at least 20 points as the All-PBC trio of Jaymee Carnes, Stephanie Huffman and Mimi Hill went a combined 19-of-35 (54.2 percent) from the field to score 66 of the Saints' 70 points. The team ended the game shooting 43.2 percent from the field, which matched exactly the Saints' regular-season performance against the Jaguars, and 44.4 percent from three-point range.
Huffman and Carnes matched the game-high of 23 points. Carnes ended the contest with her 11th double-double of the season, as she corralled in 15 rebounds.
Hill scored 20 points, including going 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Six of her free throws came in the last two minutes of the game.
Tiffany Jaecks led the Jaguars with 23 points. All-PBC selection Tanchelle Hollingsworth was the other player for Augusta State in double-digits with 14 points, including four three-pointers.
North Georgia entered half time with a 35-24 lead after Carnes hit a buzzer-beater, fall-away three as time expired, after the game was tied five times. The 11-point deficit was Augusta State's largest deficit all year.
In the second half, the Jaguars managed to close to within two points when Hollingsworth drilled a three-pointer with 8:55 remaining in the game. Jaecks then cut the deficit to just one, 47-46, before Carnes hit one of her two three-pointers followed by a Hill layup to stretch the score back out to 52-46.
Despite a stiff defense by Augusta State, North Georgia remained resilient and stretched the lead back out to the final 10 points using a 9-4 run in the final 1:55 of regulation.
The Saints will next play the winner of the day's second game between the University of Montevallo, the two-seed out of the West, and Falgler College, the East's three-seed, on Saturday in the tournament's first semifinal game at 2 p.m.
