GCSU women’s basketball defied expectations during this year’s rendition of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, entering as a seven-seed and marching all the way to the championship.
“Never doubt us,” said Bailey Vick, senior guard on the women’s basketball team. “We might have struggled in the beginning of the season, but we stuck together as a team and knew that we were capable and proved that to all our doubters.”
While the Bobcats later fell to the Augusta University Jaguars on March 8 in the final round, GCSU pushed past the number two-seeded University of South Carolina Beaufort Sand Sharks in the quarterfinals and the three-seeded University of North Georgia Nighthawks in the semifinals.
Entering the tournament, the Bobcats concluded their regular season 12-16 and 8-12 in conference play, and played their best basketball towards the end of the season, starting the conference tournament with a four-game winning streak, all against conference opponents.
Once again, the Bobcats entered the season with some changes in leadership, with Catrina Green taking over as GCSU’s new Interim Head Coach.
“I thought she did really great,” said Natalia Bolden, senior guard and forward on the women’s basketball team. “I know that was a big learning curve for her, and she was thrown into the fire, but she didn’t seem underprepared. She bought into her role, and she poured into us with so much confidence.”
The team’s first adversary was the Sand Sharks of the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, a team the Bobcats struggled against in the regular season, falling to the team at home Dec. 17 and on the road Feb. 4. Both teams traded twenty-point quarters in the first half, as the Bobcats maintained a slim one-point lead entering halftime, 34-33.
“It started with belief,” Green said. “We were already looked at as one of the bottom teams, if not the bottom team, and we had to start believing in ourselves first and foremost. We got the girls to believe and buy in, and the switch flipped as we went into the conference tournament.”
Something clicked in the locker room between halves as the Bobcats pushed past the Sand Sharks in the third quarter, outsourcing them by 11 in ten minutes, and 44-30 in the second half in total to claim a 15-point, 78-63 statement victory in the first round of the tournament.
Deshone Gaither’s 26-point, 12-rebound double-double took charge amongst the Bobcats, while Nylah Nuri’s 17-point performance kept the momentum of Gaither.
While the Sand Sharks were an admirable opponent, the Bobcats had their eyes on their semifinal opponent: the Nighthawks of the University of North Georgia. GCSU split the regular season series with North Georgia, falling to them on the road Jan. 7 and taking a slim 67-65 victory Feb. 18 in front of the home crowd.
The last time the Bobcats won two games in a season against the Nighthawks was the 2014-15 season, ironically, so long ago that it was the season in which newly inducted GCSU Hall of Fame Shanteona Keys last played for the Bobcats. GCSU looked to truly do something that the odds were highly against.
Both teams were tied at 26 after the first half, with the Nighthawks scoring a majority of their points in the first quarter and GCSU starting with two thirteen-point quarters. Although the Bobcats continued to do something special coming out of the locker room, as GCSU’s offense exploded for a 29-point third quarter, pulling away so far in the quarter that UNG could not come back, leading to a 65-54 GCSU semifinals victory.
Gaither and Nuri both added 18 points, and Bolden put up a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double of her own.
“I loved our run in the tournament,” Bolden said. “I felt like once we got in and believed in each other, each game, we fought in the tournament, and I think that was a pivotal switch for us as a team. Although we came up a little shorter than we wanted, I’m pretty proud of our tournament run.”
Even in the conference finals contest, in which the Bobcats were outscored 37-23 in the first half, the team continued to fight until the end, as GCSU put up a 33-24 second half to just fall short 61-56 in their final contest of the season.
During the tournament run, GCSU had five players in their final contest, including Bailey Vick, who had the opportunity to play alongside her sister in her final season.
“It was so exciting and amazing to be alongside Sloane,” Vick said. “We are super close, and it was really special to spend my last season of basketball with my sister. I love being on the court with her every game, and I will definitely miss being on the team with her next year.”
The Bobcats look to take this season as an example entering the 2026-27 season, as the Bobcats, even though they were the second-lowest seed entering the tournament, were able to push all the way to the end, and they’re expected to be hungry to not just make it to the finals but win them next year.
“Continue to fight and believe,” Green said. “Don’t let anybody put you in a box and say that you can’t achieve high things. You can make anything happen, and as long as you continue to believe, pour into each other, love each other and have tough conversations, you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.”