No. 8 Barton Falls in NCAA First Round
Box Score | DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The eighth-ranked and sixth-seeded Barton Bulldogs saw their 22-game win streak come to an end in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Southeast Regional with a 59-55 loss to three-seed Georgia Southwestern inside the University of North Georgia Convocation Center on Friday afternoon (March 11).
Georgia Southwestern scored first in the contest and had an early 4-3 lead, but a Lauren Walker 3-pointer for Barton sparked a 10-0 run for the Bulldogs that made it 13-4. A pair of Hurricane free throws ended the run, but Barton scored the next 11 points for a 21-2 run and a 24-8 lead after the first quarter. The Bulldogs were 8-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from the 3-point arc in the opening 10 minutes while the defense limited GSW to just 3-of-14 from the floor and zero threes.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 17, 33-16, midway through the second quarter, but didn’t score over the final 5:05 of the first half as the Hurricanes used an 8-0 run to cut the halftime margin to nine, 33-24.
After shooting 44 percent (12-of-27) over the first 15:05 of the game, Barton hit just 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) shots from the field over the next 14:55 as Georgia Southwestern went on a 24-8 run over that span to cut the lead to one, 41-40, after three quarters.
The Hurricanes scored seven of the first nine points to open the fourth quarter and take a 47-43 lead. Four consecutive free throws from Jami Tham and Akira Wiggins tied the game at 47, but the next five went to GSW. A Tham layup and a free throw from Shanika Peterkin cut the deficit to two, 54-52, with 52 second left. The Bulldogs had a few chances to tie the game late, but just couldn’t get the shot to fall in the Southeast Regional loss.
Tham and Peterkin each finished with a double-double for Barton with 18 points. Tham had 13 rebounds while Peterkin grabbed 10 and added four blocks. Wiggins added five points and dished out seven assists. Ava Jones led all scorers with 19 points for the Hurricanes.
Georgia Southwestern (23-6) will move on to face the Lander/Catawba winner while Barton ends the season 28-2.