AU women get 25-point hoops win over Flagler

By Jack Johnson | Sports writer

The Augusta University women’s basketball team got a crucial bounce-back win over the Flagler College Saints in blowout fashion on Feb. 13, but their next outing, at North Georgia on Feb. 15, resulted in a 70-57 loss.

AU’s game with USC Aiken on Wednesday, Feb. 17, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 protocol. Augusta has had nine games postponed or cancelled this season due to the pandemic.

In AU’s game before the Flagler contest, the Jaguars suffered a heart-breaking 61-60 overtime loss to UNC Pembroke.

Saturday, Feb. 13, however, was a much different story for the women. In a dominant performance, the Jaguars bested the Saints 68-43, the team’s largest margin of victory on the season. 

The Jaguars put their suffocating defensive capabilities on full display as they held the Saints to just a 30.5-percent field-goal percentage. 

However, the Jags impressive display on defense was matched by an dominant performance from Kennedi Manning, who totaled 22 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Manning was a force to be reckoned with as she continued to pick apart the various different defensive schemes that the saints implemented throughout the game. Zairya West also had an excellent game of her own, putting up 17 points..

The contest against the UNG Nighthawks was a battle among two of the top-three teams in the Peach Belt Conference standings.

Things got off to a rough start for the Jaguars as UNG (10-1, 13-1) jumped out to a 27-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. The defensive intensity that was seen in the Jaguars’ previous contest seemed to be nonexistent as the Night Hawks were scoring at will.

The Jaguars managed to somewhat close the gap before halftime and held UNG to just 13 points in the second quarter. However, it would not prove to be enough as North Georgia managed to keep their cushion of a lead throughout the second half.

AU Coach Millette Green was frustrated with her team’s performance,

“We weren’t good defensively at all,” Green said. “Our rotations were slow, and we lacked any sort of energy. We can’t keep letting teams hit 70 points. That’s not how you win games.”

North Georgia shot 50 percent from three-point range, making half of its 24 trey attempts. The Nighthawks shot 46 percent overall from the field, compared to 36 percent for AU. Julianne Sutton led UNG with 13 points.

Despite a poor defensive outing from the Jaguars, all five starters managed to put up at least eight points with November Morton leading in scoring for the Jags with 11. Beyond the arc, however, was a different story. The Jaguars attempted just 10 three-point shots for the entire game, making only two of them.

The third-place Jaguars’ next contest will be against league-leading Lander University (11-0, 13-0) on Saturday, Feb. 2, as AU (4-2, 5-5) will try to remain in the hunt for the regular-season Peach Belt title with four games left to play.

[Photo above: Kennedi Manning of Augusta University shows her form in the low post. (photo by Paula Toole, AU Athletics)]

Contact Jack Johnson at jacjohnson@augusta.edu.