MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - After knocking off eighth-ranked Georgia Southwestern over the weekend, the Lander Women's Basketball team would come short of extending their winning streak to five as they fell to the Georgia College and State University Bobcats by a score of 58-45. The loss dropped Lander to 7-11, 4-5 in PBC play while Georgia College moved to 12-7 and 4-5 in PBC play.
Points would come at a premium for the Bearcats as they would shoot just 32.7% from the field and a highly uncharacteristic 30% from the free throw line.
Jakiyah Parker led the way for Lander with 17 points and
Kayla Sanders led the team on the boards as she grabbed six rebounds.
The first quarter was not kind to the Bearcats offensively as their first basket wouldn't come until almost the five-minute mark of the quarter when
Anne Secrest would break the ice with a jumper. In total, Lander would only make three field goals in the first ten minutes of action but the defense would stand tall and only allow the Bobcats to open up a 14-6 lead after the first quarter.
The Bearcats would open up the second quarter on a 7-2 led by buckets from
Jakiyah Parker and a three from
Tyasia Freeman run to close the Georgia College lead down to four at 17-13. However, the hosts would respond with a 17-7 run to close the half sparked by three straight possessions with a three-pointer to force a timeout from coach
Stephanie Gehlhausen. Meanwhile, the Bearcats would once again go cold as Lander would not score again until just over the 1:30 mark when
Kayla Sanders would hit a layup. Lander would close the quarter on a better shooting spell as
Tanyia Gordon would hit a layup and
Anne Secrest would hit a three but hot three-point shooting from Georgia College would keep the margin at 14 heading into halftime at 34-20.
Jakyiah Parker would get the Bearcats started in the second half with a jumper from just inside the arc but both teams would start the second twenty minutes cold as Parker's jumper was the only basket scored in the first four minutes of the third quarter. After a Bobcat jumper broke the scoring drought for both teams,
Kayla Sanders would hit only her third three-pointer of the season to cut the lead down to 36-25 as the teams headed to the media timeout. After the media timeout, Parker would hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead down to single digits but an and-one on the other end would get the lead back up to 12 at 39-27. After another mini-scoring drought, the teams would exchange layups then Parker would hit a three as time expired to cut the lead to nine heading into the last ten minutes of action.
Tanyia Gordon would cut the lead down to seven right after the quarter break then after about three minutes of no baskets,
Quadaija Langley would get her own rebound and put it back in to get the lead back down to five. However, Georgia College would hit a three right after to push the lead back to 44-36 with just under six minutes to go. After the media timeout, a five-point swing would occur as Lander would miss two free throws, and Georgia College responded on the other end with a three to push the lead to 11. Another layup a possession later would make it 13 and force a timeout from the Bearcats.
Tanyia Gordon would keep the Bearcats in it with a three but the Bobcats would respond right back with a three of their own to push the lead right back to 13 at 54-41.
Kayla Sanders would get it down to 12 at the free throw line and Lander would force a turnover but couldn't convert and would force the Bearcats into the fouling game. Georgia College would hit two free throws and
Quadaija Langley would hit a layup on the other end but that would be as close as the Bearcats would get for the remainder of the game.
The Bearcats are back at home on Saturday as they welcome the Flagler Saints to Horne Arena for the final Saturday home game of the season. That game is scheduled to tip off at 1:30 PM.
