CARROLLTON, Ga. - One streak ended and another continued on Thursday as the UWG women's basketball team won their 10th straight game at home and snapped Florida Gulf Coast's 58-game Atlantic Sun Conference winning streak with a 63-56 victory at The Coliseum.
"It's hard to put it into words, but one emotion I don't feel is surprise," said head coach Joanna Reitz after the contest. "Ever since we made the move to Division I, the players we had in the program and the players we brought in, there was no sense we're just happy to be here. We're here to compete and we're here to win."
West Georgia (11-5, 4-1 ASUN) shot 42.9 percent from the field and knocked in 12 three-pointers as they handed FGCU (8-8, 4-1 ASUN) their first loss in conference play since February 12, 2022.
"We have so much respect for their program and their team. They came in on a 58-game conference winning streak, so our players had a mentality of 'Why Not Us'. I'm just really proud of the players. It's really fun to be the team to stop the streak."
Jasmine Jones led all scorers with 26 points, going 8-for-14 from the field including a 6-for-12 clip from distance. Jones led the Wolves on the glass with seven rebounds as well. Sydne Tolbert added 12 points while Destiny Jones had nine and Grace O'Gara had eight.
Despite a 7-0 start for the Eagles, the Wolves led after 10 minutes of play. The Wolves didn't get on the board until nearly six minutes into the game and Jasmine Jones hit threes on back-to-back possessions to get the offense going.
"Those were big threes. When Jasmine hits a shot, everyone on the bench, including me, relaxes and exhales," said Reitz. "We're committed to process over results, so we felt good about the shots we were taking, so we knew at some point those shots were going to fall."
From that point, the Wolves never looked back and Asia Donald hit another three on the Wolves' final possession of the period and went up 14-11, and the Wolves led the rest of the way.
Midway through the second, a 6-0 run put the Wolves up 24-16 and FGCU called a timeout to reset. From that timeout at the 4:19 mark of the second, the Eagles closed on a 7-2 run and UWG led 26-23 at the break.
West Georgia came out of the halftime break and kept the intensity going, shooting 61.5 percent from the field in the period. They would outscore the Eagles 22-11 and took a 48-34 lead into the final quarter as Tolbert hit a three at the end of the period.
As expected, FGCU did not lay down, using an 11-0 run to cut the Wolves' lead to 53-49 by the 4:37 mark of the final quarter. Jasmine Jones stopped the FGCU run with a three, but by the 1:25 mark, FGCU was within two points of the Wolves.
On the ensuing possession, Grace O'Gara buried a clutch shot from beyond the arc to give the Wolves a five-point advantage.
"We were in a timeout and Coach Jo said, 'If they go under, let it fly' so she instills confidence in us to take a shot if we have it, and it was open so I shot it," O'Gara said of her crucial basket.
From there, UWG's defense and free throw shooting finished off the Eagles for their fourth straight win and 10th consecutive at home.
West Georgia is at home again on Saturday, looking to keep the momentum going by hosting the Stetson Hatters at 2 p.m.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Jasmine Jones notched her sixth 20-point game. She is tied for the Division I lead in three-pointers per game at 3.33.
- UWG held FGCU to a 16.7 percent clip from beyond the arc, the Eagles' second-lowest single-game clip on the season.
- The Wolves have now won seven of their last eight games.
