By Cameron Windley |Sports writerAfter the Augusta University women’s basketball team went 1-1 in the opening weekend of the college basketball season in games against Barton and Southern Wesleyan, the coaches and players had high anticipation for the home opener on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Christenberry Fieldhouse. However, the Jags saw Queens University rally for a 67-61 victory in a back-and-forth contest.Queens entered with a 0-3 record, but each of the Royals' first three games were close and could have gone either way.The Royals came out of the gate strong against the Jags. Meanwhile, the Jags couldn’t get anything going offensively due to the suffocating defense of the Royals. AU missed its first 12 shots from the floor.Yet the Jags made a push late in the first quarter after Jaelyn Autman scored the first points for Augusta with 3:41 left in the period. Once down 7-0, the Jags put up eight points by the end of the first quarter to trail 14-8.In the second quarter, Augusta found its offensive rhythm. That's when the Jaguars outscored the Royals 21-13 to take a 29-27 halftime lead. Guard Zairya West and forward Kennedi Manning were very crucial in the second quarter as the Jags with West pushing the ball and scoring from the outside and Manning dominating the paint.Augusta maintained its lead for most of the third quarter with another 21-point effort. However, the Royals made a big run in late in the third quarter and didn’t look back. They rode the momentum into the fourth quarter opened up the quarter with a three-pointer to cut the lead to one.Both teams went scoreless for a few minutes, and then the Royals' 2-2-1 press suffocated the Jags into bad shots and turnovers. Finally, after building a small lead, the Royals iced the game from the free throw line.Augusta Coach Millette Green was concerned with the little things that her team missed out on.“Overall, I liked our defense, but we missed too many opportunities, like easy layups," she said. "We missed too many three-point shots, and we have to get better. We have a week to get ready for our next game.”From behind the three-point line, AU was only 4 of 21 (19 percent). Most of those were good shots, but they just were not falling.Augusta shot 24 of 72 (33 percent) from the field while the Royals shot 22 of 56 (39 percent). The Royals also had 19 free throw attempts and made 67 percent of them. AU was 9 of 12 from the line.Manning and Autman played very well for Augusta. Manning led the Jags in scoring and rebounding with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Autman also had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. West had 10 points.Crystal Corley added nine points. Kiera Howard had eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.The Jaguars had 19 turnovers, many of them in the second half against the Royals' fullcourt press.Kristian Eanes, scoring on three-pointers and drives, led Queens with 21 points, followed by Julia Rufland with 13. Jaleah Goff had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Royals.Augusta will host Clark Atlanta on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1:30 p.m.
Contact Cameron Windley at cwindley@augusta.edu.