Lady Barons win for seniors, prepare for GACC tourney

Saturday marked a time for celebration for the Brewton-Parker College women's basketball team, with three Lady Barons playing in their final home game and the squad avenging an earlier loss that set a women's school record for victories.

Senior forward Tameka Oliver led the Lady Barons to a 74-58 win over Georgia Southwestern State University at the Student Activities Center with her 11th double-double of the season.

The victory improved the Lady Barons' overall record to 23-7, breaking the school record set in 2000-01 by a team that qualified for the NAIA Division I national tournament.

"We wanted to send the seniors out on the right foot," said Lady Barons coach Tommy Dalley, whose team avenged an 83-75 loss Feb. 3 at Georgia Southwestern. "We weren't going to lose on their last game here."

The Lady Barons finish GACC play with four straight wins, a 12-4 record and with the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament that runs Thursday through Saturday at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega.

Brewton-Parker plays sixth-seeded Emmanuel (17-17 overall, 5-11 GACC) on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lady Barons swept Emmanuel in their two meetings, including a 69-42 win at Franklin Springs on Feb. 24.

A victory would put the Lady Barons into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal game against the winner of Thursday's North Georgia-Southern Polytechnic State University contest. Saturday's championship game is at 6 p.m.

"We are playing better than anybody in the conference right now," Dalley said. "We have as good a chance as anybody. We'll go up there and see what happens."

Oliver, a 6-foot-2 Savannah native, led the Lady Barons to victory over Georgia Southwestern (14-15, 8-8) with 21 points and 12 rebounds and got strong support from her senior teammates.

Guard Takara Solomon had 11 points and guard Lucinda Lessington added nine points with a game-high six assists.

Freshman guard Ashley Little followed Oliver in scoring with 14 points, and freshman guard and former Montgomery County Lady Eagle Tamika Drinks added 10 points.

The Lady Barons led 31-13 with 7:43 left in the first half and 40-24 at halftime. Their biggest lead was 49-30 with 14:53 remaining, and Brewton-Parker finished with a decisive 46-33 advantage in rebounds.

"We watched the film (from the first meeting) and realized they outplayed us and outrebounded us, and we were determined not to let that happen again," Dalley said.

Senior center Tomekia Reed led the Lady Canes with 16 points.

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Brewton-Parker College freshman forward and former Montgomery County Lady Eagle Tamika Drinks (No. 25) puts up a shot against Georgia Southwestern State University junior Paige Hencley (No. 20) with Lady Baron teammates Ashley Little (No. 3) and Toya Rogers positioning themselves for a rebound in first-half action Saturday at the Student Activities Center on the Brewton-Parker campus in Mount Vernon. Drinks had 10 points in the Lady Barons' 74-58 victory.