Battles and Lewis duo sends Georgia to quarterfinals

Greenville, SC- 5 seed Georgia (21-10, 9-7 SEC) defeated Auburn, 63-45, in the second round of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

Diamond Battles led the Bulldogs with 18 points and shot 3-of-4 from three. Javyn Nicholson added nine points with seven boards.

Aicha Coulibaly and Sydney Shaw lead the charge for the Tigers. Coulibaly fell one rebound shy of a double-double (13 points, 9 rebounds) and Shaw tacked on 12 points.

Both teams got off to a slow start as the first points didn’t come until eight minutes in when Coulibaly hit a pull-up midrange jumper. Brittney Smith scored UGA’s first points three minutes later. Late in the period, both teams began to settle down as the Bulldogs took a slim lead into the second, 12-10.

Battle got the ball for the Bulldogs as he opened the quarter with a layup and then drained two back-to-back triples, forcing the Tigers to call a timeout, 22-14. Alisha Lewis assisted on 14 of Georgia’s 26 points in the second, setting a career-high nine assists in just the first half.

Turnovers were a problem for both teams as 16 were committed in the first half. Georgia entered the break with a 38-25 advantage.

After being outscored 16-2 in the paint by the Bulldogs in the first half, Auburn opened the second half with two of its three field goals coming from the paint. The Tigers tightened up their defense in the third, holding Georgia to nine points.

Auburn’s three points to start the final quarter were answered by Georgia’s five points as the Lady Bulldogs continued to lead. The final dagger came from Lewis when he knocked down a three in 40 seconds to put UGA up by 16.

Georgia moved to 14-0 this season when leading by double digits after three quarters.

Lewis tallied 12 assists to match Georgia’s single-game record in an SEC Tournament game, originally set by Teresa Edwards in 1984 against Auburn.

Until Next Time
Georgia will face 2-seeded LSU in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at 6:00 PM The game will be televised on the SEC Network.

Auburn (15-14, 5-11 SEC) was eliminated from the tournament.