Women's Hoops Rolls on Senior Day; Secures First Round Bye in MSC Tourney

GEORGETOWN, Ky. - After narrowly missing out on an upset win at Thomas More on Thursday, the Georgetown College women's basketball team came home on Saturday for Senior Day festivities with an opportunity to secure a first round bye in the upcoming Mid-South Conference Championship. The Tigers hosted the Shawnee State University Bears, and thanks to a stifling defensive effort, they found the victory they needed to lock up that bye.

Georgetown (20-10, 13-9 MSC) also secured their first 20-win season since the 2018-19 campaign, as they defeated Shawnee State (4-19, 3-16 MSC) comfortably, 77-49.

Shawnee State scored the first four points of the day, but Georgetown answered with a 9-0 run that spanned just more than three minutes. After the Bears netted a layup to break the run, the Tigers immediately went on another 7-0 spurt to take a 16-6 lead with 2:35 to go in the opening frame. SSU scored the last two buckets of the period to cut the margin to 16-10 after the opening 10 minutes.

The Bears pulled to within a deuce early in the second quarter, but with the margin at 18-16, the Tigers went on another run to open the margin back up. Georgetown scored the next nine points and with 5:07 left in the half, the Tigers led by 11. The margin did not change much in the final 10 minutes of the stanza, and at the half, Georgetown led comfortably, 38-24.

Georgetown dominated the third quarter, especially on the defensive end of the floor. The Tigers held the Bears to only 3-for-15 shooting in the quarter and they forced four SSU turnovers in the period as well. The teams split the first 10 points of the quarter evenly, as SSU made three free throws in that span, but over the last 3:57 of the frame, Georgetown out-scored Shawnee State 13-5 to take a 56-34 lead into the final frame.

The momentum resided solidly on the Tigers' bench in the final frame as well. Georgetown rattled off 21 points in the quarter, and the Tigers pushed their lead all the way out to as many as 32 points before coasting home with the win, 77-49.

Jazzmyn Elston, playing the final home game of her career, led all scorers with 24 points in the contest. Fellow seniors Madison Darnell (13) and Lexie Stapleton (12) also reached double figures, freshman Callie Jackson also scored 13, and Darnell reeled in 14 rebounds for the double-double. Senior Grace White and AJ Stevenson had five assists apiece as well.

As a team, Georgetown made 27 of 57 (47.4%) shots in the game and 10 of 27 (37%) 3-point attempts. At the foul line, the Tigers were 13-for-17 (76.5%), and they dominated the battle of the boards, 48-37.

The win locks the Tigers into the number four seed in the bracket, where they will await the winner of the 5-12 matchup. The bracket will be officially released by the Mid-South Conference office later this weekend. The Tournament will begin on February 26 at Bowling Green Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.