By Caleb Bailey, Staff Writer

The Armstrong Pirate basketball teams took the court Jan. 17th as the women looked to keep their win streak going and the men tried to get back to their winning ways. It was a second half rally that led to the women sneaking away with a victory during Saturday’s contest against Peach Belt Conference opponent East Georgia State College.

The Bobcats took control over the Pirates in the early stages of the first half, scoring the first five points of the game, then thrice gaining 10-point leads over the home team. With two minutes remaining in the first half, Georgia College led 32-22, but Dee Hayward hit a three pointer and was able to keep her team’s deficit in single digits at halftime as the Pirates trailed 34-27.

The Pirates opened the second half with a 13-4 run that gave their team its first lead of the game at 40-38 less than four minutes into the second half.

With just over a minute left in the game, the Pirates led 66-63, but Hayward hit a big three pointer to push the lead back to a two possession game.

Shermika Harris hit a three of her own to seal the victory for her team as the Pirates moved on to a 76-71 win. This win pushes the team to 8-7 and 6-2 in the PBC. This was the Pirates’ fifth win in six games and their fifth straight home win. Harris led her team with 20 points on the night.

The men took to the floor hoping to echo the victory of their female counterparts. It was a buzzer-beating shot from Emmanuel Tiluscar that lifted the Pirates to victory over the Bobcats.

The Pirates went into the half trailing the Bobcats 41-40 and they knew that it was going to be tough to escape with a victory. The action went back-and-forth the entire second half until the last 24 seconds of the game.

Shaquell Mitchell advanced the ball down the court and attempted to drive towards the basket twice before he found Tiluscar open from just inside the three point line on the right wing. The ball swished through the net with 0.2 seconds left on the clock and buzzer sounded with the Pirates walking away with a 79-77 victory over the visiting Bobcats.

The Pirates shot 48% on the night as Trey Suttles led his team with 18 points. The victory moves the Pirates to 5-9 overall with a 3-5 PBC record.

Both the men and women traveled to Georgia Southwestern Jan. 19th and will be back home again on Jan. 28th to face USC Aiken.