Lady Jags fade against Saints

By no means is Augusta State University women's basketball coach Greg Wilson happy that his team fell to 2-8 in the Peach Belt Conference with a 60-51 loss to North Georgia on Wednesday night.

What he can be happy about, though, is the way his team finally appears to be coming together - the Jaguars beat Armstrong Atlantic State on Monday and had the PBC's best team on its heels for most of Wednesday at Christenberry Fieldhouse before faltering late.

"I don't feel good at all about the 2-8, but I do feel good about where we're at right now," Wilson said.

Other than the first nine minutes and the last six Wednesday, the Jaguars (7-12 overall) frustrated the high-octane Saints with scrappy defense, turning a 17-6 deficit at the outset into a six-point lead with eight minutes to go.

"We uglied the game up enough to get back in it," Wilson said.

North Georgia (15-3, 11-0 PBC), which entered averaging nearly 83 points per game and was beating its opponents by more than 20, exploded in the end, however. With help from Augusta State's offensive lapses, the Saints closed with a 17-5 run.

"I just think they're a really good defensive team," North Georgia coach Buffie Burson said. "Their record definitely is not a reflection of their team. They've been in a lot of games like this."

With 10 first-year players on the roster, the Jaguars finally might have found some chemistry, at least on defense, Wilson said. They went more than six minutes in the first half without allowing a point and more than six in the second allowing just one basket.

"I thought it was a mixture of good and bad," Wilson said. "On defense we played exceptionally well, but we missed too many open shots on set plays in the second half. ... And we're not the type of team that can dig ourselves a hole because we don't score that well."

Augusta State trailed until Lauren DeCoud's 3-pointer with 15:40 remaining produced a 30-30 tie. Behind Eva Vodrazkova and Tracey Paschal nine points apiece, the Jaguars pulled away to its biggest lead at 44-38 with 8:02 left.

North Georgia began its comeback and finally pulled into the lead for good with 4:03 left.

Shirrell Ford grabbed 11 rebounds for Augusta State, which plays host to Armstrong Atlantic State next Wednesday.

Reach Steve Sanders at (706) 823-3216 or steven.l.sanders@augustachronicle.com.