The Lady Pirates (4-2, 1-0 PBC) improve to 12-9 all-time in Peach Belt Conference openers, while also extending Augusta State's winless league streak to 29, dating back to the 2008-09 season. The Lady Jaguars are now 4-2 on the season and 0-1 in the Peach Belt Conference.
A layup from the Lady Jaguars' Waneta Carlisle put Augusta State up by two points, 73-71, with 2:15 remaining, but a driving layup by Armstrong sophomore Jazmin Walker tied the game up at 73-all with two minutes remaining. The Lady Pirates took the lead for good on freshman Brittany Reddy's pull-up jumper with 54 seconds left, putting Armstrong up by two.
Junior Brooke Long blocked a layup by the Lady Jaguars' Morgan Goss with 41 seconds left, then the Pirates got a shot clock violation to take possession. An offensive foul by freshman Mauri Wells gave possession back to the Lady Jaguars, but Blaire Egardo's three-pointer was short and Wells secured the rebound and made two free throws to seal the victory.
"I feel that the big thing down the stretch was coming up with the loose ball," AASU head coach Matt Schmidt said. "We were strong with it and didn't allow them to come up with it underneath the basket."
Senior Arpine Amirkhanyan paced the Lady Pirates offensively with a career-high 30 points to go with 11 rebounds for her fourth straight double-double. The 30 points are the most scored by an Armstrong player since Lacey Willis' 32 points against Limestone on Nov. 29, 2008. Wells finished the game with a double-double as well with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Long notched 13 points and Walker added 10.
"Arpine made the shots that she is supposed to, the open looks and layups inside," Schmidt said. "But the thing that was bigger than her 30 points tonight was her ability to rebound the ball.
"I felt we played with a lot of effort and energy tonight," Schmidt continued. "It was real important to get the win today going into finals. This win will really help the kids off the court to focus more on academics. It's nice to have a little hop in your step when you're going to take that big test."
Egardo finished the night with 22 points on 6-of-15 three-point shooting to lead the Lady Jaguars. Carlisle came off the bench to chip in 14 points as well.
The Lady Pirates shot a season-high 49.1 percent from the floor, hitting 27-of-55 shots, while Augusta State hit 36.1 percent from the floor on 29-of-72 shots. The Lady Jaguars hit 9-of-21 three-pointers for 42.9 percent, while Armstrong hit 5-of-12 shots for 41.7 percent. Each team made two-thirds of their free throws with Augusta State hitting 12-of-18 and Armstrong hitting 18-of-27.
Armstrong returns to action on Tuesday, December 14, hosting Columbia (S.C.) at 7:00 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
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