BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The top-seeded University of North Georgia women battled through adversity to advance to the NCAA Division II semifinals with a 68-61 win over Pace Monday night.
The Nighthawks used a strong third quarter and held off a furious push from Pace in the fourth to reach the national semifinals to be played Wednesday.
After a back-and-forth opening few moments, North Georgia turned up the defensive pressure, holding Pace to just 3-of-14 shooting from the floor to finish the final 6:29 of the first period and take a 20-11 lead. The Nighthawks battled foul trouble in the second quarter but did enough to continue to hold a 31-25 lead over the Setters at the break.
UNG opened up the second half on fire from outside, hitting three straight three-pointers, one from Caroline Martin and back-to-back from Josie Earnhardt to force a Setter timeout early in the half. The Nighthawks held a 13 point margin after three quarters and then had to hold off a rally from Pace to keep the season alive.
NOTES
-- Julianne Sutton led the Nighthawks in the scoring column with 17 points, finishing a rebound shy of her fourth straight double-double, while three other Nighthawks finished in double figures. Caroline Martin finished with 14, Josie Earnhardt added 12 and Jamari McDavid put up 10.
-- UNG assisted on 20 of 25 made baskets, led by Martin's six dimes.
-- The win marks the furthest the Nighthawks have ever advanced in the NCAA tournament. North Georgia will now have a chance to advance to their second ever national championship game, the first of which was the 1987 NAIA national title game.
NEXT UP
North Georgia will either play Valdosta State or Western Washington Wednesday night. The game will be carried live on CBS Sports Network.
