Basketball Edges Out #25 Point University

The Brenau basketball team used a big second quarter to edge past #25 Point (Ga.) University 58-57 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play on Tuesday in Gainesville.

The visiting Skyhawks started the first quarter by scoring 11 consecutive points to jump out to an early 18-12 lead. However, Madison Phillips opened the second quarter with a steal and a layup plus the free throw to ignite an 11-point run to give the home team a 32-25 lead at the break.

After the intermission, the Golden Tigers held throughout the third quarter and late into the fourth quarter until the Skyhawks' Raven Brown scored a layup to give the visitors a 54-53 lead with 1:58 remaining. With 1:12 left in regulation, junior guard Lia Thomas hit a short jumper to give her squad the go-ahead and teammate Autumn Dodson scored a breakaway layup with 24 seconds to make the score 58-54.

After a three-point play from Point, the Golden Tigers blew three of their last four free throws to give the Skyhawks an opportunity to win, but Alicia Manning missed a potential game-winning layup to give the Golden Tigers a 58-57 win.

"This was a must-win for us tonight and our team responded," said head coach Kris Stewart. "Our defense really played well against a nationally-ranked team and our transition game really boosted our offense against an equally good defense."

Thomas led the Golden Tigers with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Jasmine Knight added four points, nine assists, nine rebounds and five steals. Dodson also added 11 points, while Ashanti Brown chipped in six points and seven rebounds.

Point's Candace Rhodes led all scorers with 16 points.

Brenau (9-3 overall, 6-3 AAC) next hosts Milligan (TN) University (7-8 overall, 3-5 AAC) on Thursday in Gainesville. The matchup will be a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader with the junior varsity game set to begin at 4 pm and the varsity game to start immediately afterwards.