DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The Lander women's basketball team placed three players in double figures Monday night, but could never get their momentum going as the Bearcats lost to North Georgia, 75-62, in a Peach Belt Conference game in Memorial Hall.

North Georgia improves to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the PBC, while Lander moves to 6-3, (1-1).

Lander's Ty'hesha Reynolds scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Mylea McKenith finished with 18 points and five assists. Breshay Johnson finished with a double-double, contributing 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Bearcats.

Kelsey Hutchins paced the Nighthawks with 24 points, while Jordan Livesay had 16 points and nine rebounds. Deana Blankinship added 12 points and nine rebounds. 

Lander connected on 20-of-66 field goals (30.3 percent), including 5-of-22 threes (22.7 percent), and 17-of-21 free throws (81 percent).

The Nighthawks were 32-of-55 from the floor (58.2 percent), including 2-of-9 threes (22.2 percent) and 9-of-11 free throws (81.8 percent).

UNG outrebounded Lander, 40-30.

North Georgia jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening two minutes and led 23-12 early in the second quarter. 

A jumper from Blankinship increased the Nighthawk lead to 39-25 with 1:32 to go in the first half. Reynolds connected on a shot at the buzzer to cut the Bearcat deficit to 41-29 at the break. 

North Georgia built an 18-point lead on a Mackenzie Durrah layup to make the score 51-33 with 5:53 remaining in the third quarter. Lander cut the lead to 57-48 at the 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter on a layup from Tabitha Dailey, but UNG responded with a 4-0 run. 

The Bearcats made a final run, trimming the deficit to 65-57 on a Johnson layup with 3:13 left to play, but the Nighthawks held on to hand Lander its first PBC loss of the year.