DAHLONEGA — For the second straight year and the fourth time in five years, the No. 9 University of North Georgia women's basketball team hoisted the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship trophy after defeating Clayton State Sunday afternoon, 72-65.
North Georgia battled in the early stages of the contest, holding a two point advantage after the first period after Julianne Sutton scored 10 of the first 15 points for the home team. The Nighthawks pulled away in the early part of the second quarter with an 8-0 run that stretched the lead to 10, where it hovered until halftime.
UNG opened it up in the third quarter, extending the lead out to as many as 22 points before the Lakers, with their season on the line, fought back to trim the lead down to single digits twice in the fourth quarter. North Georgia managed the game well enough down the stretch to secure the automatic bid into the NCAA Southeast Regional.
NOTES
- Sutton was named the Tournament MVP after scoring a game-high 18 points, falling just one rebound shy of a double-double. Caroline Martin was named to the All-Tournament Team after also scoring 18 points, hitting 14-of-17 free throws. Abbie Franklin hit 4-of-5 three pointers to finish with 12.
- No team in the league's history has ever gone on a stretch of four tournament championships in five years. This marks the seventh time in the tournament's history that the same team has gone back-to-back.
NEXT UP
North Georgia will await the announcement of the Southeast Region bracket tonight at 10 p.m. As the No. 1 team in the most recent Southeast Region rankings, North Georgia would host the regional next week should they remain in the top spot.
