CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - History was made on Thursday night when the final whistle blew, and UWG women's basketball was crowned the victors over Austin Peay, 58-52, as the win clinched the Wolves' berth in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
Head coach Joanna Reitz and the Wolves became the first team at UWG to qualify for the ASUN Tournament, and still have one game remaining in the regular season before postseason play begins.
"Tonight was really special, and I'm just extremely proud of the team. They've been really tough, hung together and stayed together through adversity and continued to work hard even through February," said Reitz. "Everyone on the team contributed to this. I think at the beginning of the year we were predicted to win two games and we ended up winning 12 with more to come and that doesn't happen without a staff that works their tails off and a team of players that's tough and resilient."
West Georgia (12-16, 6-11 ASUN) led for 94 percent of the game in which Destiny Jones continued to make her case for ASUN Freshman of the Year and the Wolves recorded double-doubles by two different players in a season sweep of Austin Peay (11-17, 6-11, ASUN).
Jones was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, and recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds. K'Nari Holliday provided the other double-double for UWG, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
"We needed them to do that. They did such a good job on the boards, and we talked about the rebounds being a big part of this game," Reitz added. "They produced, and took great shots, and Austin Peay was doubling us, so for Des and Nari to put up those numbers against a post double is really well done."
For the game, UWG had a 42-33 advantage on the glass including an 11-8 margin on the offensive boards. That led to a 15-4 advantage in second chance points.
Austin Peay led early, scoring the first basket of the game, and leading a second time at 4-2, but from that point until the halftime whistle, West Georgia led the game, including as much as a 14-point lead late in the second.
UWG shot the ball well in the opening quarter, shooting 9-of-12 (75 percent) from the field over the first 10 minutes to lead 21-13.
Offensively, UWG cooled off in the second quarter, but over the opening half, the Wolves had a big advantage on the glass, scoring 11 second chance points in the half. A Mykah Anderson three-pointer at the 2:44 mark gave UWG their biggest lead of the half at 34-20 and Austin Peay managed a free throw as the only scoring between the two teams in the remainder of the half as the Wolves led by 13 at the break.
UWG built as much as a 20-point lead in the third quarter, and they would need that cushion as the Wolves were held to just four points in the final quarter, with all of those coming from the free throw line. But the Wolves defense did enough, limiting the Govs to just 3-of-12 from the field in the final 10 minutes, and held on to complete their first season sweep of a conference opponent as a Division I program.
Along with the double-figures from Jones and Holliday, the Wolves got 12 points from Sydne Tolbert and 11 from Mykah Anderson in the win.
UWG has one regular season game remaining, hosting Queens on Saturday for Senior Day at The Coliseum, and Coach Reitz is hoping the Wolves can gain a little more momentum headed into the postseason.
"We've got a long bus ride back, and then we'll prep for Queens tomorrow. They are a tough opponent, and playing pretty well, so we've got our work cut out for us," Reitz continued. "But so are we. Four in double-figures tonight and our defensive effort in the first half was really strong, and to do that on the road is tough.
Tip-time for Saturday is set for 2 p.m. from The Coliseum. Tickets are available and in honor of tonight's six-point clinching victory, all tickets to Saturday's game will be $6.
