by Sam Jones, Sports Information Student Assistant

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - The Georgia College women's basketball (13-5, 5-4 PBC) team slipped up in one of their longest road trips of the season, dropping their fourth straight Peach Belt Conference (PBC) contest in a 63-59 loss to Flagler College (8-8, 4-5 PBC) Saturday.

The Bobcats started off strong, opening the game on an 11-3 run and ending the first quarter with an 18-13 lead over the Saints. Coach Maurice Smith's squad would add two straight baskets from senior forward Kadesha Gibbs (Claremont, North Carolina) at the beginning of the second quarter to extend the Bobcat lead to nine.

The 22-13 lead would be the biggest of the night for Georgia College, as Flagler began to creep back in to the game. The Saints, winners of two of their last three coming into today, began to find a little confidence and fought their way back in to the contest. Flagler went on a 12-4 run to bring the score to 26-25 before the Bobcats began trading shots and cut off the run. The Bobcats went in to the locker room holding on to a 31-30 advantage.

Within the first minute of the second half, a Flagler three from Teosha Ray put the Saints up two and gave Flagler its first lead of the game. Flagler would hold on to the lead and a slow-paced third quarter ended with the Bobcats trailing 43-39.

In the fourth the Bobcats began to fight back. Gibbs scored the first seven points of the quarter to give the Bobcats a 46-43 lead, followed by a Mckenna Rushton (Gainesville, Georgia) three to make it a six-point Bobcat advantage. The Bobcats failed to keep their foot to the floor and Flagler once again charged back in to the game.

After the Rushton three, the Saints went on an 8-0 run, capped by a three-point play from Ray that gave the Saints a two-point lead. A Veronica Ryan (Clearwater) three put the Bobcats back up one with 3:37 left in the game, however, it was the last time the Bobcats would have the lead. The Bobcats were outscored 12-7 in the last three minutes of the game, bringing the deficit to two multiple times but failing to reclaim the lead.

The Saints pick up their fourth conference win of the season, while the Bobcats pick up their fourth Peach Belt loss.

Gibbs carried the Bobcats in the contest, finishing with a game-high 21 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, and tied for the game-high with four assists. Gibbs' double-double is the sixth of her career and of the season.

The only Bobcat joining Gibbs in double-digits was LaRice Walker (Franklin, Georgia), who finished with 10 second-half points and three assists.

Alyah McGriff (Suwanee, Georgia) put in one of her better performances of the season for the Bobcats, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds on the day. 

The Bobcats shot 43.4 percent from the field but struggled mightily from behind the arc, making only three shots from 11 attempts. Meanwhile, the Saints were solid from three, hitting 9-of-16 for the game.

The four game losing streak for the Bobcats is the first since the 2013-14 season where Georgia College lost four straight from Feb. 15 to Feb. 22.

The Bobcats will look to get back in the win column Saturday, Feb. 23 as they travel to Montevallo, Alabama to take on the University of Montevallo (6-10, 3-6 PBC) at 5:30 p.m. eastern. Georgia College beat the Falcons earlier in the season 64-60 in Milledgeville.

The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at @GCBobcats on social media for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests.