With the win, West Georgia improves to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in the GSC. The Lady Hawks, days removed from their first-ever GSC win in their conference debut against West Alabama, fall to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.
Shorter’s women, who defeated West Georgia in Carrollton last season, nearly made it two in a row over its closest conference rival despite battling an off shooting night.
The Lady Hawks trailed 31-23 at the half after shooting 22 percent in the opening frame and managed to shoot just 32 percent for the game. Still, anchored by another strong defensive effort, the Lady Hawks put themselves in position to win in regulation before forcing an extra session during which they were outscored 8-2 by the hosts.
Carrollton native Karisma Boykin provided much of Shorter’s offensive firepower, leading all scorers with 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
The Georgia College transfer single-handedly erased West Georgia’s eight-point lead with five minutes left in the second half. While the Lady Hawks held West Georgia scoreless over the final 5:01 of regulation, Boykin hit a floater and two deep 3-pointers to account for an 8-0 run and pull Shorter even at 53 with 57 seconds to go. Both teams misfired on potential go-ahead attempts in the final half-minute to send the game to overtime.
In the extra period, a Shelby Farrer jumper brought Shorter to within 57-55 with 3:17 to play, but the Lady Hawks missed their final five shots and a pair of free throws while Taylor netted three of the Wolves’ last five points to help her squad escape with a win.
Shorter put together a valiant effort to battle back from a big first half deficit, as West Georgia took advantage of Shorter’s struggles from the field to build a sizable halftime edge.
The Lady Hawks shot just 6-for-27 in the opening frame, including a 1-for-13 effort from beyond the arc. Shorter fell behind by as much as 13 in the first half, but held the Wolves scoreless over the final 4:21 of the stanza to make the deficit manageable at the half.
The Lady Hawks closed the first 20 minutes strong, getting a traditional 3-point play from Lindsey Crawford and a free throw from Ieshia Alexander to pull within eight at the break.
That lead evaporated early in the second half as Shorter opened the second frame on a 9-2 run to set the tone for what would be a dog fight the rest of the way.
Although Shorter never took the lead in the game, the Lady Hawks drew even twice in the final period, the first time on a jumper by Boykin at the 13:37 mark that knotted the score at 36. West Georgia answered with a 7-0 run over the next 2:19, but the Lady Hawks chipped away at the Wolves’ advantage over the final 11 minutes of the second half, eventually getting the Herculean effort from Boykin to extend the game another five minutes.
Farrer finished with eight points and 11 boards. Alexander added seven points and Kristin Nash and Lynette Harris, Shorter’s leading scorers at over 13 points per game, were held to six apiece.
Taylor Turgeon and Brittany Johnson scored 11 each for West Georgia, which didn’t fare much better against Shorter’s stingy half court defense. Shorter held West Georgia to 36 percent shooting while turning the Wolves over 18 times. The difference came at the 3-point arc, where West Georgia went 10-for-27 while the Lady Hawks shot just 4-for-23.
Shorter returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 6 with a 6:30 pm tip at Montevallo.
WEST GEORGIA MEN 78, SHORTER 63
C.J. Davis scored 13 second half points, but it was not enough to bring the Shorter Hawks back as they suffer the loss to in-state Gulf South Conference rival West Georgia, 78-63.
Shorter (5-2, 1-1 GSC) had been averaging 94.5 points per game going into the contest, the Hawks shot just 38 percent from the field and 13-for-19 from the foul line.
Shorter’s only lead was one point at 9-8 when Dedric Ware hit a jump shot with 14:49 remaining in the first half. Ware would score nine points and while notching a game-high six assists.
Davis would hit a 3-pointer four minutes later to tie the game at 14, before West Georgia would go on a 16-3 run over the next five minutes of play.
West Georgia would lead by as much as 15 in the second half on the way to claiming their first GSC victory of the season.
Davis would lead the team in scoring with 19, added by making five 3-pointers, while also recording six assists and two steals.
Anthony Banks played a season-high 34 minutes on his way to scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds for the game-high.
Kenny Leverette played the entire 40 minutes, scoring 12 points and picking up two steals.
The Hawks were outscored by the West Georgia bench 18-8, and also with points in the paint 32-22.
Shorter will aim to bounce back on December 8 when they travel to Clark Atlanta, with tip-off set for 4 pm.
SHORTER INDOOR TRACK
Ayana Walker’s personal best in the 200m and Adika Smith’s top ten finish in the 200m led the way for the Hawks in their season opening meet at the BSC Panther Ice Breaker Invitational. The meet, held at the Birmingham Crossplex Center, was the first for Shorter as an NCAA institution.
The ladies had a few highlights at the end of the day. Walker’s time of 24.67 not only earned her runner-up honors, it also puts her second on the all-time list, behind All-American K’Ianca Dupree. Lakeisha Spikes fared well too, making the finals in the 60m dash. Her 7.70 time was just off a lifetime best, and gave her a tenth place finish. She then capped off her meet with a ninth place finish in the 200m dash, crossing the line in 25.20. Had Shorter been eligible to compete in this year’s NCAA championships, their times would have been a provisional qualifying times. Nevertheless, their performances set the tone for the day.
Daisy Helm ran an indoor personal best in the 400m dash, coming in seventh place with a 57.94 time. Chelsey Thomas, competing unattached, tied for fourth place in the high jump. Her leap of 5 feet 4 inches would rank her second in school history.
“Our ladies went out there and gutted out some great marks,” commented Head Coach Scott Byrd. “This is only the beginning to what they can accomplish. They’ve only scratched the surface with their potential.”
The men followed the ladies performances with impressive marks of their own. Smith’s ninth place performance in the men’s 200m over competitors from the likes of Ole Miss, Southern Miss, and Memphis, showed that the former NAIA team champions are ready for the NCAA. Randal Dameron, competing unattached, was actually runner-up in the same event, getting the best of Smith in the head to head race.
Cole Rice raced to an 11th place finish in the 400m, stopping the clock at 49.88 seconds. Gregory Roachford, the “Spider”, as his teammates called him due to his long limbed frame, placed 22nd in his first collegiate race as a Shorter Hawk. While 50.80 was his time, he gained a ton of experience in the world of indoor track and field.
“The guys are a young team. We took more freshman and sophomores to the meet than anyone else,” Byrd added about his men. “This meet was their introduction to college athletics, and they exceeded my expectations. I’m proud of my guys”.
The team heads back to the track January 10-11, where they will compete in the Blazer Invite, hosted by University of Alabama in Birmingham.
BERRY SWIMMING
The Berry College women’s swimming team place eighth of 10 teams at the SCAD Invitational this weekend. Janelle Spanjers broke the BC women’s 500 freestyle record. FULL RESULTS
Spanjers set the new Viking mark in the prelims, and came back to re-break her own new record in finals finishing at 5:14.89.
On Saturday’s final day of competition, the 400 free relay unit of Kenzie Bentz, Stephanie Stadnick, Spanjers and Rachel Sandoval swam a 3:53.41 for the Vikings.
“This was a great meet all around for everyone,” said Viking Head Coach Paul Flinchbaugh. “This was our first chance at a prelim./final event this season and everyone performed well. We saw many time-drops for both the ladies and the men throughout the meet and were very pleased with the outcome.”
The Berry women were the lone NCAA Division III competitor at the meet. NCAA DII Wingate placed first with 1154.5 points.
Conor Monaghan swam a lifetime-best school record in the 100 freestyle (:47.13) as the Berry College men’s swimming team placed fifth of seven teams at the 8th Annual SCAD Invitational.
Additionally, Monaghan’s time of 17:08.44 broke the men’s 1650 yard freestyle school record, and he was part of a record-setting relay team. The Berry 200 freestyle foursome of Graydon McCrite, Adam Jarrell, Conor Monaghan and Cameron Grant clocked a BC record time.
McCrite also broke the BC 100 yard backstroke school record with a time of 57:20.
The Berry College men’s team was the only NCAA Division III institution at the event. Wingate placed first with 1314.5 points.
The Vikings return to competition at the Colonel Classic on Jan. 11 at Centre College.
BERRY EQUESTRIAN
The Berry equestrian team won the Mountaineer Invitational hosted by the West Virginia Western Team.
The Vikings won the show and were named High Point Team with 33 points. The second place team was Miami University of Ohio with 29 points. The University of Findlay placed third with 26 points.
Berry competed against 18 of the top teams in the country. The show that was formatted similar to the upcoming semifinals. This show, however, did not count towards the regular IHSA point scores for the season.
Amanda Bellamy competed in the High Point Rider class, which is for riders who are both in Open Reining and Open Horsemanship, and was separate from the team points. She placed 6th in the final horsemanship phase of the class and did not place in the reining portion of the class.
The Vikings next compete in the Georgia Hunter Seat event in Athens, Ga. on Feb. 9, 2013.
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