THOMASVILLE, GA — The Thomas University Women's basketball lost a competitive high-scoring match Saturday afternoon against Coastal Georgia 91-82 in Brunswick, Georgia.
The Night Hawks jumped out to an early first quarter lead in the contest, thanks to dominant play in the paint from Graduate student Destiny Reed who started 5-6 in the first period scoring ten of Thomas' 21 points in the opening frame.
In the second quarter, the Mariners narrowed the gap, as the Night Hawks went cold on the offensive end inefficiently scoring eleven points on 25% shooting. Also in the second quarter, Coastal Georgia's primary ball-handler and offensive weapon Kaliyah Little began to heat up, finding a rhythm to score four points in the period. Little's second quarter was only a preview of what was to come, as the guard's outstanding play came into fruition in the second half scoring 11 points in the third en route to a 28 point effort on an efficient 11-16 from the field. Additionally, the Junior shot perfect from longe range hitting both of her three point attempts.
But, even despite the second quarter going in favor of Coastal, the Night Hawks and Mariners headed to halftime knotted 32-32 with 20 minutes left to play.
Second half action continued to be a deadlock, as both teams scored 24 in the third with Reed getting help from Junior guard Ta'Nija Watson who contributed five of her 16 points in the third quarter alone, while Jaliyah Miller came off the bench knocking down two three pointers to keep the Night Hawks in the ballgame heading to the fourth, 56-56.
The final ten minutes of play heavily favored Coastal, as the Mariners put on an offensive onslaught scoring 35 points in the quarter, including 17 points from the free throw line.
The Night Hawks picked up a season high 26 fouls in the contest, sending the Mariners to the charity stripe a combined 43 times where CCGA capitalized scoring 31 of the teams 91 points.
Overall, the contest saw both teams find an offensive rhythm, as TU found five players (Cavallé, Miller, Reed, Sharif, Watson) reaching the double-digit mark with Reed leading all scorers with 23. Thomas also converted an efficient 15-20 from the line, but the Night Hawks couldn't stop the red-hot Mariners as the TU defense allowed CCGA to run away with the 91-82 victory.
Up next, the Night Hawks will play a midweek contest against Trinity Baptist on Thursday Jan. 20th before hitting the road for a rematch against the team's lone win this season, Keiser University over the weekend in West Palm Beach, Florida.
For up-to-date information on TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of TU women's basketball follow them via Twitter at @NightHawksWBKB.
