The visiting Bryan College junior varsity squad outscored the Georgia Northwestern Lady Bobcats 20-8 in the final period to score a come-from-behind 54-49 victory Monday night at the Rossville Athletic Center.
The Lady Bobcats led 9-3 midway through the first quarter, only to see the Lady Lions forge a 13-12 lead at the end of the period. However, that would be the last lead for the visitors until midway through the fourth quarter as Georgia Northwestern would go on a 14-5 run in the second quarter and rallied for a 29-24 lead at intermission.
Bryan would continue to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, eventually tying the score at 32 and later at 34, but Tori Harvey would connect on a 3-point play with 3:07 left to go in the third quarter and the Lady Bobcats would hold the Lady Lions without a point for the rest of the period.
GNTC would add four points in the final 3:07 of the period, including two on a coast-to-coast lay-up by Harvey in the closing seconds. They would open the fourth quarter with an inside basket by new Lady Bobcat Jerrian Jackson to give the Lady Bobcats their biggest lead of the game, 43-34, early in the final stanza.
However, the Lady Bobcats would not be able to maintain their advantage.
Bryan came right back with a 12-2 run over the next 4:40 seconds to give themselves a 46-45 lead, their first since the end of the first period. The Lady Bobcats would call a timeout with 5:15 remaining to try and stem the tide and Jerriale Jackson would score two points coming out of the break with a nice move in the low post.
But Bryan (3-1) would answer with five straight points to take a 51-47 lead with two minutes to play and Georgia Northwestern was forced to begin fouling to try and put the Lady Lions into the bonus. However, Bryan would get loose for a Tori Burnette lay-up with 51 seconds to go and one final free throw by Caity Blevins with 26 seconds to play to seal the victory for the visitors from Dayton, Tenn.
Braylee Franklin finished with a team-high 13 points for the Lady Lions, followed by 11 points from Charlie Mitchell. Mitchell also pulled down 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.
Gracen Hobbs had 15 points on five 3-pointers, all in the first half, while Harvey also finished with 15 points. Abby Dalton finished the game with seven points, while Katelyn O'Toole and the Jackson twins all finished with four points each. Jerriale Jackson had 11 rebounds, while Jerrian Jackson pulled down five boards in her first game in Navy-and-Silver.
BRYAN COLLEGE JV WOMEN 54, GEORGIA NORTHWESTERN 49
Bryan College JV (3-1)
Braylee Franklin 13, Charlie Mitchell 11, Blevins 8, Burnette 8, Gaddy 5, Scharburg 4, Mendoza 3, Deweese 2, Harvey, Griffin
Georgia Northwestern (4-9)
Gracen Hobbs 15, Tori Harvey 15, Dalton 7, Jerrian Jackson 4, Jerriale Jackson 4, O'Toole 4, Clark, Carr
Halftime: Georgia Northwestern 29, Bryan College JV 24
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In the second game of the night, the Bobcats, who only had seven healthy bodies in uniform, simply ignored the disadvantage and proceeded to roll to a big win over the Lions.
Georgia Northwestern jumped out to a 9-2 lead just two minutes into the contest and stretched out their advantage to 17-3 at the 14-minute mark of the first half. The Lions (1-8) would whittle the lead down to seven, 36-29, at intermission, but never got any closer in the second half.
The Bobcats would start to pull away early in the second half. They enjoyed a 54-40 lead with 10:47 to go and proceeded to go on a 16-6 run over the next six minutes to pull away. Their biggest lead of the night, 79-50, came in the game's final two minutes.
Georgia Northwestern enjoyed a big advantage from behind the arc. They made seven more 3-pointers (13-6) on the same number of attempts (31) as the Lions to account for 21 of the 24-point margin. They also held Bryan to just 28.6 percent shooting from the floor on the night.
Jeremy Wilson had a big night with 27 points for the Bobcats. That included a 5-of-6 performance from the 3-point line and an 8-of-9 night from the charity stripe. Kannen Derryberry added 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while also recording three steals.
J.T. Langford had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Cole McKeehan matching him with 11 points. Hayden Murphy and Jarret Gill had seven points apiece, followed by Mark Chester with six points. Chester also pull down a team-best 12 rebounds.
Cameron Boykins and Gareth Moody each had 10 points for the Lions.
GEORGIA NORTHWESTERN MEN 84, BRYAN COLLEGE JV 60
Bryan College JV (1-8)
Gareth Moody 10, Cameron Boykins 10, Dempsey 9, Heiser 8, Arnold 6, Averette 4, Hofstetler 4, Murphy 3, Cassel 2, Self 2, Sales 2, Frechette, Lawson, Bradford
Georgia Northwestern (4-7)
Jeremy Wilson 27, Kannen Derryberry 15, J.T. Langford 11, Cole McKeehan 11, Murphy 7, Gill 7, Chester 6
Halftime: Georgia Northwestern 36, Bryan College JV 29
The Lady Bobcats (4-10) will be back in action Thursday night at 6 p.m. at the Rossville Athletic Center against the Covenant College junior varsity team, looking to sweep the season series from the Lady Scots, while the Bobcats (3-9) will head to Covington, Ga. this weekend to participate in the Oxford Classic at Emory-Oxford College. GNTC will play its first game Friday night at 8 p.m. against the host Eagles before taking on the Georgia Highlands Diamonds at 2 p.m. on Saturday.