The University of North Georgia women’s basketball team fell to Young Harris Wednesday 69-59 at YHC Basketball Arena. The loss dropped the 19th ranked Nighthawks to 18-5 and 12-4 in the Peach Belt Conference. With the win, Young Harris (17-5, 12-3 PBC) is now in second place in the Western Division. One spot ahead of North Georgia, who is tied for third with Columbus State.
Mimi Hill led North Georgia with 26 points and added seven rebounds while Stephanie Huffman had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Young Harris, which led 26-23 at the half, opened the second half with 13-2 run over the first five minutes to take a 39-25 lead on a putback by Shereese Williams with 14:32 remaining.
The Nighthawks closed to within six points (39-33) as Molly Rainwater drained a three-pointer 90 seconds later, but the Mountain Lions pushed their advantage back out to double digits (47-37) when Ladondra Johnson hit a baseline jumper with 10:36 left.
A Mimi Hill layup with 2:57 to play got North Georgia within three points at 59-56. Both teams came up empty on each of their next two possessions before a Williams jumper with 63 seconds later after a Johnson steal ended the Nighthawks comeback.
Young Harris was perfect down the stretch from the charity stripe as they went 8-for-8, including 6-of-6 by Smith, in the game’s final 42 seconds to seal the win.
Young Harris held a 45-34 advantage on the glass and the Mountain Lions’ defense held North Georgia to a dismal 33% (20-60) from the field including 5-21 (24%) from three-point.
North Georgia returns to action on Saturday, February 22 at Lander.
