AMERICUS, Ga. – With the Georgia Southwestern women's basketball team already off to a Division II era best 4-0 start, the Lady 'Canes were looking to improve on their history. Their 94-48 victory over the Lady Crusaders of Tennessee Temple on Tuesday night continued their historical start.
For the second time in three games, junior Jessica Jones led the Hurricanes offense with a stat sheet-stuffing evening of 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists. She and senior Jessica Bivins (15 points) led the Blue & Gold who shot 40.7% from the field and converted 21 of their 30 foul shots. GSW dominated Tennessee Temple with 25 offensive rebounds, forced 30 TTU turnovers and out-rebounded by 23 rebounds total.
The Lady Crusaders would hang with the Lady 'Canes for the game's initial two minutes before GSW put together a 20-8 run over the next ten minutes to put the game out of reach. The run was aided by Georgia Southwestern's 14-16 free throw shooting in the first half. At halftime, the Hurricanes led comfortably 48-24.
The game was never in reach in the second half as the Lady 'Canes cruised through the final 20 minutes. By night's end GSW held TTU to 30% shooting from the field while they recorded twelve assists on 16 made baskets.
In scoring TTU was led by Shayla Wilson and Jessica Salera who each scored twelve points. Brianna Reeves would lead the Lady Crusaders in rebounding with eight.
It was a balanced attack for the Blue & Gold, which featured five double-digit scorers. In addition to Jones (21 points) and Bivins (15 points), Tania Walters (13 points), Briana Walker (11 points) and Terra Branch (10 points) all contributed to the offensive assault for GSW. While Walker led the bench in scoring, senior forward Samantha Smith grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in her 13 minutes of play coming off the bench.
Coach Britsky and company will look to continue to add to their record-breaking opening season run over the holiday break at the Peach Belt – SIAC Challenge on the campus of Columbus State University. Their tournament run will begin with a game against Albany State on Saturday, November 26th at 3:00 pm.
