Solomon's 35 points lead Lady Barons to homecoming win

When the Brewton-Parker College women's basketball team played its best game of the season, it came when the Lady Barons needed it the most.

After losing to North Georgia College and State University on two late free throws Jan. 25 in Dahlonega, the Lady Barons avenged the loss Saturday with a solid 89-74 homecoming victory at the Student Activities Center.

"I feel this is the way we are capable of playing," Lady Barons coach Tommy Dalley, whose team (21-7 overall, 10-4 GACC) was 52 percent accurate from the floor and made 79.5 percent (31 of 39) free throws while holding the Lady Saints to 38.1 percent shooting. "Everybody did what they needed to do to contribute to us winning."

The win pulled Brewton-Parker to within one game of second-place and NAIA Division I-No. 7 ranked North Georgia in the Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference standings with two games remaining before next week's GACC women's postseason tournament in Dahlonega.

With senior forward Tameka Oliver -- fresh off a 23-point outing Thursday that put her over the 1,000-point mark for her career -- nestled in foul trouble against the Lady Saints, fellow seniors Takara Solomon and Lucinda Lessington rose to the occasion.

Freshman guard Ashley Little ended a close first half with an under-handed follow shot at the buzzer to give the Lady Barons a 38-34 halftime lead and herself 11 points in the half. Brewton-Parker made 12 of 25 first-half shots.

Solomon had 25 second-half points on her way to scoring a career-high and team season-best 35 points thanks to 12-of-17 field-goal attempts and 11-of-12 free throws.

"You can't say enough about the way 'TK' played," Dalley said of Solomon, who had 55 points in the Lady Barons' two wins last week. "She stepped up when Oliver was in foul trouble.

"We kept getting her the ball, and when she started getting double-teamed then everybody started hitting the big shots so they had to guard everybody."

Oliver fouled out with 6:33 remaining and the Lady Barons ahead 67-56, but North Georgia only cut the margin to 10 one time the rest of the way. Brewton-Parker scored seven straight free throws after that to grab its biggest lead at 89-72 with 13 seconds remaining.

"We kind of held our breath when Tameka fouled out, but we showed that we're capable of playing when she's not in there," Dalley said.

Lessington, playing perhaps her best game since the first semester, hit 12 of 14 free throws on her way to matching Little's 14-point effort. Junior guard Toya Rogers led the Lady Barons in rebounds with nine, assists with five and steals with three.

North Georgia (24-5, 11-3) suffered its second straight loss but still got 30 points and nine rebounds from junior post Angelyn Love.

Brewton-Parker began its final week of regular-season play Monday night with a trip to Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, where the Lady Barons looked to tie the women's school record of 22 wins set two years ago.

They will finish the regular season at home Saturday against Georgia Southwestern State University at 6 p.m. in the Student Activities Center.

"We can still get better," Dalley said in preparing his team for the GACC tournament March 6-8. The only way the Lady Barons will move from their current No. 3 standing and tournament seeding would be with two more North Georgia losses.

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Brewton-Parker College sophomore post Bryan Jett grabs one of his four offensive rebounds in Saturday's 66-51 homecoming win over North Georgia College and State University in the Student Activities Center in Mount Vernon. Jett also scored a game-high 21 points and had five blocked shots. (Photo by Charles Conkin)