COLUMBUS, Ga. – The No. 5 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team claimed sole possession of first place in the Peach Belt Conference with a 72-70 road win at Columbus State (CSU) Saturday afternoon.

Now 19-2 overall and 9-2 in PBC play, UNG pulled ahead of the Cougars who fell to 14-6 (8-3 PBC) with the loss. 

Freshman guard Averie Jones had a big game in the scoring column for the Nighthawks as she tied a team-high with 21 points by going 6-for-14 from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point range.

Graduate guard Caroline Martin also dropped 21 points. Her performance came on a 7-of-16 mark from the floor and a 6-for-8 outing at the free throw line.

In a hotly contested rivalry against two teams vying for the top spot in the conference, it was no surprise that Saturday's meeting was a slug fest.

At halftime the Nighthawks held a 35-29 lead after leading by as many as 12 points in the second quarter. CSU closed the quarter on a 12-6 run to cut the deficit in half before visiting the locker room.

In the third quarter, Martin scored nine of her 21 points to help the Nighthawks out-score the Cougars 20-13 over the ten-minute stretch. UNG took a comfortable 55-42 lead into the fourth quarter with first place in sight.

Instead, CSU fought back in the game. 

As UNG took its largest lead of the night at 13 points with 5:44 to go, the Cougars responded with a 15-5 scoring streak over the next five minutes to make it just a 69-66 UNG lead with less than a minute to play. 

A Nighthawk turnover gave CSU a chance to tie the game with 30 seconds to go but UNG forced a stop on defense and secured a critical defensive rebound. After getting fouled, Jones would split a pair of free throws to grow the lead to four points.

The Cougars then drove down the floor and forced a foul on UNG sending Kristyn Goshay to the charity stripe. Goshay knocked down both free throws to make it 70-68 with 14 seconds on the clock.

The Nighthawks essentially just needed to inbound the ball, make two free throws and they'd leave with a win. However, CSU stepped up defensively on the ensuing inbound as it forced a five-second violation on UNG.

Suddenly the Cougars could tie the game with a two or take the lead with a three on what could be the final possession of the game.

CSU called timeout after the five-second call to set up its own inbound play. The Nighthawks defended it well and came impressively close to forcing a five-second violation on the Cougars. At the last moment CSU found Olonna Rawls for the inbound. 

As Rawls received the ball well outside the three-point line, she turned towards the basket. Before she could complete the move, UNG senior guard Carly Fahey attacked from behind and stole the ball away. A scramble for the loose ball followed as Martin wrapped her arms around it and waited to be fouled.

Fahey's clutch steal led to a pair of free throws from Martin at the other end of the floor that all but sealed the game. Martin's foul shots made it 72-68 with less than 10 seconds to go.

CSU drove down while the Nighthawk defense stood by as pedestrians avoiding a defensive foul. After the layup, UNG inbounded the ball and ran out the final seconds of the game as the new top dog in the PBC. 

Now the Nighthawks will continue play away from home as they head to Greenwood, S.C. for a road contest against Lander. Tip off on Wednesday, Feb. 12 takes place at 5:30 p.m.