6 minutes ago Georgia Athletics
Photo: Matthew Holst/Getty Images
IOWA CITY, Ia. – The No. 10 seeded University of Georgia women’s basketball team dropped a SCORE decision to No. 2 seed Iowa in the second round of the basketball championship NCAA Women’s Championship at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Fifth-year Diamond Battles led Georgia with 21 points. Fifth-year Brittney Smith and senior Javyn Nicholson followed with 12 points apiece. Senior Alisha Lewis had 10 assists, and Jordan Isaacs led with 10 rebounds.
Georgia took an early 4-0 lead before Iowa tied the score at eight and used a 7-0 run to build a 12-8 lead. Five points from Battles and a layup from Lewis gave the Lady Bulldogs a two-point advantage, but the Hawkeyes responded with nine points to lead 19-17 late in the first quarter.
Four Hawkeyes triples extended Iowa’s lead to 10 to start the second frame. A jumper from B. Smith and a pair of free throws from Nicholson cut Iowa’s lead to four points with four minutes left in the half. A triple from Lewis capped a 9-0 run for the Lady Bulldogs to give Georgia a 35-34 lead. Iowa took a 41-40 lead after adding seven points to the board in the locker room at halftime.
A pair of free throws from Isaacs and a layup from junior Zoesha Smith tied the board at 46 midway through the third quarter. Nicholson’s back-to-back layups gave the Lady Bulldogs a 52-51 lead. The Hawkeyes used seven undisputed runs to finish the third period up 58-54.
A 6-2 run from Iowa started the final quarter as the Hawkeyes led by eight. With less than three minutes remaining, Audrey Warren hit a triple to put the Lady Bulldogs within two points, 68-66. Six points from Iowa wrapped up the game as the Hawkeyes led 74-66.
