AU women fall to No. 6 Lander 74-65, extend losing streak to four
By Katron Hugee | Sports writer
The Augusta University women’s basketball team lost to Lander University 74-65 on Wednesday. Feb. 9, at Christenberry Fieldhouse.
This game was the first game back home for AU after a winless three-game road trip. All three games came against Peach Belt Conference opponents.
The difference in Wednesday’s game was that the Bearcats feasted at the free-throw line, making 33-of-42 free tosses. The Jaguars only shot 14 foul shots, making 10. By contrast, AU held Lander to 34-percent shooting while the home team shot 47 percent. The visitors also won the boards battle, 42-32.
The loss dropped AU to a 10-11 record overall with a 4-9 record in the conference, while Lander moved to 17-2 on the season and 11-2 in conference action. Lander is tied for second place in the Peach Belt, a half game behind leader Georgia Southwestern and tied with North Georgia.
The game started out tight before a 5-0 run by Lander would push the Bearcats’ lead to 16-8 late in the first quarter. The teams traded buckets to end the quarter leading to a 20-14 score.
The Jaguars would cut the lead down to four in the second quarter before a 7-0 by Lander pushed its lead to 29-18.
AU would cut the lead down once again to six points but back-to-back layups by Makaila Cange put the Bearcats up 10 to end the half at 39-29. Cange totaled 21 points and 6 rebounds in the first half.
Lander started the second half on a 5-0 run, extending its overall run to 9-0 and extending its lead to 15 at 44-29. This would force a Jaguars timeout with 7:30 left in the third quarter.
The rest of the third quarter would be both teams trading buckets leading to a score of 52-39 to end the third.
In the fourth quarter, both teams continued to exchange baskets as Lander was unable to pull away from the Jaguars. AU kept the lead at 10 before a layup by Zairya West cut the lead to eight with 2:57 left in the fourth.
A November Morton 3-pointer cut the Jaguar deficit to six points at 64-58 with 1: 20 remaining in the game. However, the free-throw shooting of Lander down the stretch kept AU at bay with the Bearcats holding on for the victory.
Cange, who scored 43 points and 18 rebounds in the first matchup, finished with 27 points and 9 rebounds. Miriam Recarte also recorded 9 rebounds both tying for the team high.
For the Jaguars, West led the team in scoring with 12 points followed by Kennedi Manning, who scored 11 points. Manning also led the team in rebounds with 10.
AU’s next matchup is a road game against Young Harris College on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 1:30 p.m.
Contact Katron Hugee at khugee@augusta.edu.
Augusta’s Kiera Howard (3) goes up for a shot in the heart of the Lander defense. At the top of the page, Zairya West (0) drives to the bucket for the Jaguars as Lander’s Sarah Crews (4) defends. (photos by Katron Hugee)
