AUGUSTA – The University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team was picked to finish third in the Peach Belt Conference by the league's head coaches as announced by the conference office Tuesday afternoon. Columbus State was picked to finish first with 78 points and seven first place votes. The Cougars finished in third place with a 13-5 PBC record last season.

Augusta was chosen to finish in second place with 68 points and one first place vote. Last year, the Jaguars went 15-3 in league play before finishing in second place.

The Nighthawks earned 65 points and a third place selection from the coaches. The conference expects an improvement in 2024-25 from UNG who went 10-8 in conference action and 17-12 overall while finishing in fifth place last season. 

Finally, Georgia Southwestern, Flagler, Clayton State, Lander, GCSU, USC Beaufort and USC Aiken respectively were picked to follow the top three selections. 

Nighthawk graduate forward Emily Trushel made headlines as the lone UNG selection to the 2024-25 PBC Preseason All-Conference team. Last year, Trushel led her team in scoring and rebounding while ranking second in field goal percentage as she was the only Nighthawk selected to the all-conference team at year's end. 

In total, UNG will return 88.8 percent of its scoring from the 2023-24 season. That mark does not include the return of graduate guard Caroline Martin who was a 2023 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-American while leading the Nighthawks to the NCAA Tournament. 

In the two seasons prior to her injury, Martin started all but one game for head coach Buffie Burson. In that span, she averaged 16 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 40.2 percent from the floor, 35.5 percent from deep and 77 percent from the free throw line.

UNG begins its season at home at Lynn Cottrell Arena at the UNG Convocation Center in the Peach Belt/Conference Carolinas Challenge. The Nighthawks will open the year against Emmanuel at 6 p.m.