Lady Knights victory yields at least a share of regular season title
LAGRANGE, Ga. – The West Georgia Tech women’s basketball team claimed a share of the GCAA/Region 17 Division III regular season title Friday night with a 78-69 victory over standings-leader Georgia Northwestern Tech in LaGrange.
The Golden Knights closed out conference play with a 5-1 record and handed the Lady Bobcats their only conference loss of the season (4-1). Georgia Northwestern fell to 11-10 overall.
“It’s a great accomplishment for my ladies,” WGTC head coach Kenny Edwards said. “They deserve to split the title if not win it. I’m very proud of them. This is big for recruiting purposes as we lay the foundation for future success. It’s been our goal from day win, to win our conference. So we’re close.”
West Georgia Tech will win the regular season title outright if Georgia Northwestern loses its last conference game which is on February 16th at Middle Georgia Tech.
Nicole Marshall led four Golden Knights in double figures with 17 points. Sha’Ron Forte had 15 points and 9 rebounds and Ta’Corria Mann added 14 points and eight boards. Victoria Conner had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
West Georgia Tech led by ten at halftime, 43-33. They extended the lead to as many as 16 in the second half, 54-48 with 14:47 remaining. But GNTC scored 13 unanswered points to get back in the game.
The Golden Knights pushed the lead back out to double-digits at 65-55 with 6:00 to play and held on for the win.
“I’m proud of my ladies for finding a way to win that game,” Edwards said. “We had tired legs from last night. Two of our players were on the bench for half of the game because of foul trouble. We took the game over in the last four minutes. I’m proud of the way we scrapped.”
Georgia Northwestern dominated the glass, holding a 73-57 rebounding edge.
But West Georgia Tech won the game with a stifling defense which held the Lady Bobcats to 28-percent shooting (25-88).
West Georgia Tech has a lengthy break before the conference tournament. The Golden Knights won’t play again until February 23rd, a span of two weeks.
The Golden Knights will either be a number one or two seed.