MORROW, Ga. – Led by a suberb performance from redshirt-senior center Andrea Benford (Madison, Ga.), Clayton State (18-4, 10-3 PBC) pulled out a 65-51 victory late over Georgia College (12-6, 6-5 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's basketball game on Wednesday, February 1.
 
Benford had an outstanding outing as she put up 18 points, hauled in nine boards and blocked six shots to along with a pair of steals. She was just four blocks shy of the program record set by Shacamra Jackson on March 11, 2014 against Columbus State as part of a triple-double. Her six blocks tied for the fourth most in a game and second most by anyone other than Jackson.
 
Joining her were redshirt-senior forward Ashley Cunningham (Douglasville, Ga.) with 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks while junior guard Jimecheia Banks (Phenix, City, Ala.) finished with nine points, five caroms, five assists and three steals. Senior center Rayven Thomas (North Las Vegas, Nev.) added nine boards and senior guard Dejoun Dennard (Tampa, Fla.) chipped in with eight points.
 
Trailing by a point, 3-2, in the early going, Clayton State turned up the tempo with a 10-1 run that left them with a 12-4 lead by the 2:11 mark of the first quarter. The Bobcats would it to three just over a minute later before the Lakers pushed their advantage to 16-9 with 28 seconds left.
 
With a five point margin at the end of the first, Georgia College would get it to 16-13 and stay within five points over the first two minutes of the second quarter. At that point the Lakers would put together another extended run, this time 10-2 over a span of 5:54, to take a 28-17 lead with 2:21 left in the half. They would maintain that margin, taking a 32-21 advantage into the break.
 
The second half would start very similar to the first as Clayton State went on another 10-2 run, this time pushing their lead to 42-23 by the 5:54 mark of the third. GC would respond with an 8-1 run to cut it to 43-31 before the Lakers closed the quarter up 10 at 45-35.
 
After seeing the lead bump to 11 in the opening seconds the Bobcats would put together a 10-1 run to narrow the gap to 48-45 and get back in the game with 7:18 to play. That rally would be extinguished, however, when Dennard drained a triple at the 6:20 mark and ignited an 8-1 stretch for the Lakers that left them with a 56-46 advantage with 4:44 to play. From there they would not be seriously challenged on their way to the 65-51 victory.
 
Ta'Asia Wright was the lone Bobcat in double-figures, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds and four steals while Alyah McGriff had eight points and six caroms. Lindsey Reed added seven points and five boards and Shay Tarver rounded things out with eight points.
 
The Lakers continue a stretch of four homes games in their next five as they host North Georgia on Monday, February 6. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m. at The Loch.