By Chris Whitaker
The Americus Times-Recorder

AMERICUS — With about 14 minute remaining in the game, coach Kelly Britsky was not happy with the Lady Hurricanes.

Not at all.

Georgia Southwestern led Young Harris by 13 at halftime before letting the Lady Mountain Lions close to within 45-39 when Britsky had enough.

"I thought we were not doing a good job on defense," said Britsky. "Our energy level was low, and I didn't think our intensity was high enough, and I kind of let the know it. I thought we needed to pick up our defensive pressure, pus the ball up the floor and take better shots."

The Lady Hurricanes responded with a 24-4 run en route to a 75-50 win on Saturday in the home opener.

Terra Branch scored 14 and Nadirah Gardner added 13 as every player scored. GSW shot 50.8 percent while holding Young Harris to 36.4 percent, and it won the glass with a 35-15 rebounding edge.

"I was frustrated during the game because I thought we weren't playing well," said Britsky. "We held them to under 50 shots — that's one of our big goals — we out-rebounded them, and we shot 50 percent; that's unheard of for us. There's not a lot to complain about looking at the stats. And the fact Terra and JB were able to step up and play the same position and both do very well makes us stronger."

"It's a good win, and to get the first win at home is always great," said Britsky. "We'll have a lot of hard games coming ahead. To get a nice win and get everybody some experience is a good thing."

The Lady Hurricanes made 9 of 15 3-pointers in the game, including three from Branch and two from Gardner. Jessica Bivins sparked an 18-5 run to end the first half, scoring seven of her nine points during the run.

Nikki Winn led Young Harris with 16 points, and Lauren Smith chipped in 15.

The Lady Hurricanes return to action on Friday when they play Florida Tech at Rollins University.