Box Score by Benny Benton
DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The Barton College women's basketball team's winning streak came to a screeching halt on Friday after the Lady Bulldogs suffered through their worst shooting performance in nearly two years in losing to Georgia College, 70-40.
Barton (3-1) made just 12 of 59 attempts from the floor in the contest, which served as the opening game of the UNG Nighthawk Classic at the University of North Georgia's Memorial Hall. The Lady Bulldogs had not posted those numbers since a loss to nationally-ranked Limestone in January of 2016.
The Lady Bulldogs never led against the Bobcats (1-2). There were three ties in the contest, the last one at 6-6 on a layup by Dinah Neal with 3:54 left in the first quarter. However, Barton didn't score again until Alex Kimble's 3-pointer at the 7:21 mark of the second quarter. BC missed 10 straight shots and turned the ball over four times during that scoreless stretch of more than six minutes.
Barton got as close as five points at 17-12 with 4:45 left in the first half on a 3-pointer by Khayla Mitchell, but Georgia College responded with a basket on its next possession, and finished the half on an 8-2 spurt to take a 25-14 cushion into intermission.
Georgia started the third quarter the same way, producing an 11-2 run to begin the period and put the game away.
Alyah McGriff tossed in 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Bobcats in the win.
Neal and Kimble, who both came into the game averaging better than 20 points per contest for the Lady Bulldogs, each scored a team-high seven on Friday. The duo combined to shoot 3 of 24 from the floor in the loss.
Mitchell, a freshman, added the first six points of her career. Another freshman, Shanika Peterkin, collected a team-high seven rebounds and chipped in a pair of blocks in the loss.
Barton hopes to bounce back on Saturday when it faces the host Nighthawks in a 4 p.m. contest.
