Lakeland, Fla. - The College of Coastal Georgia women's basketball team didn't just beat St. Thomas University on Friday night in the semifinals of the Sun Conference tournament.
The Mariners beat the Bobcats convincingly to punch their ticket to the tournament championship game here Saturday night as they routed the No. 2 seed 71-51 with a defensive showing that Coastal Georgia head coach Roger Hodge could use as an instructional tool during a future coaching clinic.
"Our kids were motivated and ready. We came out, jumped on them and did a great job, especially defensively. We executed really well," Hodge said.
The Mariners, who had lost all six games they'd played against St. Thomas (21-9) coming into the tournament semifinals, held the Bobcats to 27.9 percent shooting as they made just 19 of their 68 field-goal attempts including only one of their 16 tries from the three-point line.
Coastal Georgia (21-10) the No. 3 seed, drew up a defense that focused on staying in the face of league player of the year Samara Auguste no matter what, even if it meant not playing help-defense on another player which could leave Auguste roaming free.
The plan worked as Coastal Georgia held Auguste to only 11 points. She averages 18.7 points a game.
The only other St. Thomas player to score in double figures was Keiana Brooks who led the Bobcats with 16 points.
"Our kids did a great job," Hodge said. "They have some really explosive players, especially Auguste, but we did a really good job and frustrated them on the offensive end and got them out of what they like to do a little bit."
And Coastal Georgia got big games on its offensive end from the usual customers as seniors forward Brianna Gipson and senior center Ayshia Baker led three double-figures scorers for the Mariners as they combined to score 39 points.
Gipson, a first-team all-league player a second consecutive season, led all scorers with 21 points while also yanking down 16 rebounds to enjoy a double-double game for the Mariners. Baker, who made the all-conference second-team, followed closely with 18 points and snared eight boards while blocking two shots.
Also Ja'Lisya Glover scored in double figures a second straight game for the Mariners as she added 12 points off the bench while playing 19 minutes. The freshman point guard scored a season-best 20 points in Coastal Georgia's come-from-behind win Tuesday night at home in the quarterfinals against Keiser University.
Coastal Georgia fell behind early as St. Thomas scored the first six points, but after they warmed up, the Mariners didn't take long to really heat up. They would surge ahead and take an 18-8 lead over the Bobcats by the end of the opening 10 minutes.
The Mariners never trailed the rest of the way as they led by as much as 15 six minutes into the second half and would go to halftime up 35-20.
CCGA went ahead by 20 on a Gipson basket early in the third period and led by as much as 51-25 late in the quarter before going to the final period with a 51-33 cushion.
The Bobcats did make a small run at the Mariners early in the final frame, closing within 55-41. But, the Mariners simply pulled away again and won going away to reach the tournament final.
The Mariners lost to St. Thomas in last year's semifinal in their first year in the league and lost by seven point both times the teams met during the regular season this year. The Bobcats were receiving votes for the national poll late into the season.
"They're good, and the games in the past, they played better than us and beat us," Hodge said. "Tonight, we just played better than they did and we won the game."
Coastal Georgia's reward for finally getting past St. Thomas is a matchup with perennial power and No. 3-ranked Southeastern which knocked off Florida Memorial 76-60 in the other semifinal on Friday on its home floor.
Southeastern won all 18 of its conference games this season including two over the Mariners by 68-62 in Brunswick and 87-64 at home earlier this month. The Fire has won the last four tournament titles.
The Fire is already assured of a berth in the NAIA national championship tournament as the regular-season league champion which gets one of the Sun Conference's two bids to the national tournament. The other berth goes to the tournament champion. If Southeastern wins the title Saturday, St. Thomas would get the other berth as the runner-up in the regular season.
The Mariners might have an outside shot of getting an at-large berth with the victory over the Bobcats padding their credentials, but an upset of the Fire Saturday night in their home arena would assure the Mariners of a spot in the national tournament.
"We're jumping right from the frying pan into the fire," Hodge said, saying he wasn't trying to be funny, but who believes that?
"It's not like we don't know each other," the coach added. "The only thing I can guarantee you is that our kids will go out and compete."