Friday, March 12, 2004 - Opening Round

CATAWBA’S SECOND-HALF CHARGE NOT ENOUGH AS GCSU ADVANCES

RALEIGH, NC – Georgia College & State University withstood a fierce second-half rally by Catawba College, as the No. 2 seeded Lady Bobcats held on for a 65-60 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball South Atlantic Regional Tournament at Spaulding Gymnasium on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, NC.

GCSU (27-5) led by as many as 17 points in the first half (32-15 at 5:05) and took a 38-24 cushion into the locker room.

The Lady Bobcat advantage was 52-38 after a layup by Antionette Long at 8:03 of the second stanza.

That’s when Catawba, led by junior guard Ashley Cox, made a charge. Cox nailed three 3-pointers during a 14-3 run to pull the Lady Indians to within 55-52 with 3:01 left to play.

Catawba, however, struggled to put the ball in the basket the rest of the way, while GCSU made 10-of-12 from the charity stripe to preserve the win.

Four Lady Bobcats scored double-figures, including Kirsti Jones (13), Latia Love (12), Antionette Long (11) and Rachael Jackson (10). Love also contributed a team-best nine rebounds.

“We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean in the second half,” GCSU head coach John Carrick said about his squad’s 21.7 percent shooting performance in the final 20 minutes. “We continued to play tough defense and did a little bit better job of rebounding in the latter part of the second half than in the first part.”

Catawba’s Cox finished with a game-high 26 points, including 21 points in the second half on 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 shooting from long range. Danyel Locklear recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards for the Lady Indians (22-9).

“We did not have a good beginning of the game,” said Catawba head coach Angie Morton. “In the second half we took more shots and cut into the lead, but just missed shots at the end.”