DAHLONEGA – After a 64-54 loss to No. 21 and second-seeded Coker in the 2025 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship, the No. 6 University of North Georgia (UNG) women's basketball team's historic 2024-25 season has come to an end. 

While Monday's result will sting and ultimately be viewed as a disappointing end to the year, it cannot take away from the fact the Nighthawks completed one of the best seasons in program history.

Behind a long lineage of success at the highest level, it's hard for programs like UNG to continue to make history. The Nighthawks entered this season having already won nine conference regular-season and tournament championships in program history. 16 postseason appearances preceded this year's. 15 of those came under the direction of legendary head coach Buffie Burson and seven of them were at the NCAA Tournament, with six in the previous seven seasons.

Despite all the previous accolades and acclaim, this year's group did things that had never been done before. In the DII era (2005), no UNG team had ever gone undefeated on the road in a season. Zero teams shot 36.6 percent collectively from three-point range. None recorded 18.1 assists per game and no squad ever dished out assists on 69.2 percent of made baskets. No collection of Nighthawks ever won 31 of their first 33 games. No team (in program history) had ever won 91.2 percent of its games. This team did. 

The fifth 30-win season in program history and third instance in which UNG earned the top seed and hosting rights in the NCAA Southeast Regional was supposed to have a better ending. Players, coaches and fans alike dreamed of a National Championship. But some dreams are meant to remain just that. 

Monday's loss came at the behest of a talented Coker team that held UNG to just three made three pointers, its second-lowest mark of the season. The Cobras were led by senior guard and the 2025 Southeast Regional Most Outstanding Player Shawnteanna Tillman who had 17 points in the game. 

Despite winning the turnover battle and holding Coker to just 11 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds and nine points off turnovers (its second-lowest mark this season), it was the Cobra defense that ultimately caught up to the Nighthawks.

Monday's game was a back-and-forth affair that was to be won in the margins. A loose whistle from the officials opened the door for an old-fashioned, physical contest that favored Coker's aggressive style of play at both ends of the floor. 

As the Cobras controlled a one-possession lead in the second half, they matched seemingly every UNG bucket with one of their own. No team held a lead larger than five points until the Cobras pulled away in the final three minutes of the game. 

UNG can hang its hat on the effort and grit its players showed in the slug fest. Senior forward Ansley Hall was pressured the entire night and still earned a team-high 14 points in the loss. Sophomore forward Kendall Emener tied Hall with 14 points by scoring numerous tough baskets in the post as she also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots. 

Graduate forward Emily Trushel battled through bumps and bruises for 10 points with three rebounds and a pair of assists.

Graduate guard Caroline Martin did a little bit of everything, hustling for 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and four steals.

Martin and Trushel were each named to the 2025 NCAA Southeast Regional All-Tournament Team along with Coker's Tillman, Kamari Thompson and Mya Wasswa. 

By record, the best season in North Georgia women's basketball history has come to a close. It will not end with the coronation it deserves. With a group of players that played together and for each other instead of themselves, Burson reflected on what this season meant to her.

"They could play with a chip on their shoulder, but they played for each other, and that was truly amazing because I don't think every team can ever say that," said Burson. "They were selfless and you saw how many people we put on the floor that could score the ball." 

Burson's pride in her players was evident in her post-game press conference after the loss. The 2025 Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year and winningest coach in conference history will remember her team's hard work, selflessness and resilience in a tremendous season. 

"That's probably the hardest locker room speech I've ever given," said Burson. "They brought out so much emotion, in a good way, with me." 

"I kept looking up at the clock in the locker room. I told them 'I keep looking up at it because I keep wanting to send you all back out. I want to keep coaching you,' and it's kind of like right now. As soon as this press conference ends, I don't get to keep coaching them anymore."

That post-game press conference is over and so is North Georgia's season. Despite the harsh reality of that fact, this year's Nighthawk women's basketball team will be remembered for its outstanding performance and representation of the university and the program. This season's legacy is not written based on the result of its final game, but on the pride it instilled in everyone around it as members of Nighthawk Nation.