West Virginia comes from behind to defeat Georgia

West Virginia (8-2) headed south to take on Georgia (10-3) in the West Palm Beach Invitational, defeating the Bulldogs 49-45.

The Mountaineers went down early in the game, with Georgia starting the game on an 8-2 run before battling back to tie the game at eight with 6:30 remaining in the quarter. Georgia responded with an 11-3 run to finish the quarter with a 19-11 advantage. 

Georgia would continue their run in the second quarter, scoring the first eight points of the quarter to increase their lead to 27-11. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter, and Georgia went into halftime with a 34-22 lead. 

The Mountaineers used defense in the third quarter to help their comeback, allowing only 3 points in the quarter and forcing 5 turnovers, scoring 6 points off them. Danni Nichols and Kylee Blackstein combined for 8 of the Mountaineers 12 points in the quarter to cut the lead to 37-34 heading into the final period. 

Madisen Smith tied the game at 37 in the first minute of the fourth, with her first points of the game. 39 seconds later the Mountaineers would take their first lead of the game when Jayla Hemmingway added another three to push West Virginia’s run to 14-0.

Brittney Smith would finally stop the bleeding for Georgia with a layup to cut the Mountaineers lead to 1, but the Mountaineers regained control going on a 4-0 run and not allowing another Georgia point for nearly 5 minutes. 

West Virginia never gave up the lead after gaining it for the first time early in the fourth quarter, and forced another 5 turnovers in the quarter scoring 7 points off them. 

Danni Nichols led the Mountaineers with 13 points, and Jayla Hemmingway was the only other Mountaineer in double-figures adding 11 points. 

West Virginia shot 39% from the field, while holding Georgia to only 30% and forcing 19 turnovers on the afternoon.

Photo by Aaron Parker