Wilson enjoys a tough battle

In search of its first win in nearly a month, the Augusta State women's basketball team got a little defensive.

That's the way Lady Jaguars coach Greg Wilson, like most other coaches, likes it.

Augusta State held UNC Pembroke scoreless the final 2:32 to hold off the Lady Braves to open the Peach Belt Conference season with a 51-48 victory.

"That was a coaches' win right there. You know what you're hanging your hat on," Wilson said. "You know it wins ballgames. That's why coaches are so into it and maybe not fans."

UNC Pembroke, which had won six of its past seven games but shot only 31 percent, had three fruitless possessions to close the game.

"We stepped it up toward the end," senior guard Brandi Hollingsworth said. "We knew we couldn't let them score. If they had a chance to shoot we wanted to be in their face."

The Lady Braves were doing well to even get that chance.

After Latoya Renwrick (12 points) hit a leaner to put the Lady Jaguars up 49-48, they didn't allow UNC Pembroke to get off a shot on its ensuing possession, which ended in a shot-clock violation.

After Renwrick missed a jumper the next time down the floor, Augusta State again forced a Lady Braves shot-clock violation.

The Lady Jaguars were up 51-48 after Eva Vodrazkova sank two foul shots, and again the team was up for the defensive challenge.

UNC Pembroke needed a 3-pointer, but was forced to take - and miss - short jumpers.

Additionally, the Lady Jaguars slowed the conference's leading scorer, guard Lindsay Bartholf, who was averaging nearly 20 points per game coming in.

Bartholf scored 12 points, but hit only 4 of 13 shots.

These defensive merits meant more, senior guard Andrea McCurry said, given the team's struggles on that end of the court in recent weeks.

The Lady Jaguars allowed 106 points in their Dec. 16 loss to Shaw and 93 points to Georgia on Dec. 10.

"It's definitely encouraging to see everybody stepping up, playing hard on defense," McCurry said. "If we do that every night, teams are going to have trouble with us. It won us the game tonight."

 •  The Augusta State men's team followed its upset of West Georgia with an 83-49 rout of UNC Pembroke to open the conference season.

The Jaguars (8-4, 1-0 Peach Belt) gradually pulled away to take a 42-24 halftime lead. They opened the second half with a 9-0 run and cruised to a victory over the Braves (2-10). Freshman Cameron Tovey and Larry Diamond each led the Jaguars with 14 points.

Reach Travis Haney at (706) 823-3304 or travis.haney@augustachronicle.com.

UNC PEMBROKE (48)-Danielle Richardson 15, Tracey Lightfoot 2, Lindsay Bartholf 12, Kristin Vaughan 8, Tiffany Wright 11. Totals: 16 10-12 51.

AUGUSTA STATE (51)-Eva Vodrazkova 6, Latoya Renwrick 12, Brandi Hollingsworth 7, Andrea McCurry 9, Taliah Roberts 7, Kasie Muchler 8, Christina Pedarre' 2. Totals: 20 6-8 59.

UNC Pembroke1731-48

Augusta State 2724-51

3-point goals: Augusta State:5 (Hollingsworth, McCurry 3, Roberts). UNC Pembroke 6 (Bartholf 3, Wright 3).Records: Augusta State 7-5, 1-0; UNC Pembroke 8-4, 0-1. Next: Augusta State at Armstrong Atlantic State at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Augusta state 83, UNC Pembroke 49

UNC Pembroke (49)–Jabarr Adams 7, Jerrell Hunter 11, Frank Foster 14, Anthony Crank 5, Ford Lawrence 2, Rollie Boone 2, Elhadji N'Diaye 2, Adam Shepherson 4. Totals: 15 16-20 43.

Augusta State (83)–Clarence Brown 4, Cameron Tovey 14, Roberto Aufiero 5, Karim Telfer 8, Larry Diamond 14, Jamie Quarles 1, Dean Brebner 4, Jason Mills 12, Tyrekus Bowman 9, Luke Tambon 2, Arthur Thomas 10. Totals: 29 19-31 54.

UNC Pembroke 24 25–49

Augusta State 42 41–83

3-point goals: Augusta State 6 (Tovey 2, Telfer 2, Mills, Thomas). UNC Pembroke 3 (Hunter, Foster 2). Records: Augusta State 8-4, 1-0; UNC Pembroke 2-10, 0-1. Next: Augusta State at Armstrong Atlantic State at 7:30 p.m Saturday.