Nighthawks earn PBC regular-season title

The University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team has earned the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season championship and will play at home for all of its games in the PBC tournament, set for March 5-9.

As the No. 1 seed, UNG will host No. 8 seed Clayton State at 5 p.m. March 5 in its PBC tournament opener at the Convocation Center in Dahlonega, Georgia, with other quarterfinals also at the higher seeds. Tickets are available for $10 for that quarterfinal game on the PBC website. Students, faculty and staff get in free with their personalized UNG Connect QR code in the Campus Groups app, and children 5 and under also receive free admission. Should UNG win its first tournament game, the March 8 semifinals and March 9 championship game will be played in Dahlonega.

UNG finished the regular season 26-2 overall and 16-2 in PBC play, including a program-best 11-0 record in road games. It was the program's fifth PBC regular-season crown — the others coming in 2006, 2018, 2019, and 2022 — ahead of pursuing its fifth PBC tournament title.

The winner of UNG's PBC tournament opener will play the victor between No. 4 seed Georgia College and No. 5 seed Flagler in a March 8 semifinal.

The Nighthawks are in prime position to host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional the following week, as they enter the PBC tournament ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 8 nationally.

"Obviously, everyone's goal when you start conference play is to position yourself to host the tournament. The fact that we will be at home in front of our loyal fans is a huge boost of confidence for us," head coach Buffie Burson said. "It also means we did something really hard, and we want to protect that, finish the job and put ourselves in the best possible situation for the NCAA tournament."

Burson and her team are set to make their seventh NCAA tournament appearance in eight seasons and eighth appearance overall. The 31st-year head coach has led the program to an NCAA national semifinal appearance in 2022, an Elite Eight in 2019 and Sweet Sixteen appearances in 2018 and 2021. Her teams also advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight three times and NAIA Sweet Sixteen two other times.

Graduate guard Caroline Martin leads UNG with 17 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, with graduate forward Emily Trushel tallying 14.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. Freshman guard Averie Jones is also in double figures at 11.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while senior guard Ansley Hall scores 10.1 points per game and has dished out 4.8 assists per contest. Sophomore forward Kendall Emener pours in 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

Burson points to her team's balance and continuous growth on defense as key ingredients in its success.

"We have an experienced, hungry group who have chosen to keep distractions out of the picture all season," Burson said. "Also, the fact that we've had so many different people lead us in scoring each night has been exciting to see, along with the unselfishness displayed in our high number of assists per game."

The UNG men's basketball team finished the regular season with a 17-13 overall record and 9-9 PBC mark. As the No. 6 seed, the Nighthawks open PBC tournament play on the road against No. 3 seed Augusta University at 7:30 p.m. March 5.

Should UNG advance, it will play in a PBC semifinal March 8 against No. 2 seed USC Aiken or No. 7 seed Flagler College at the campus of the highest remaining seed in the tournament. Columbus State is the No. 1 seed in the PBC men's bracket. The men's PBC championship game is also March 9.

Junior guard AJ White paces the Nighthawks with 16.1 points per game, with fellow junior guard Cayden Charles averaging 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds. Junior forward Colin Turner tallies 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest.