DAHLONEGA, GA -- The University of North Georgia won the 2025 Peach Belt Conference women's basketball tournament title on Sunday with an 81-72 win over seventh-seeded Georgia Southwestern. The title is UNG's third in the last five years and fifth in the last eight.
UNG receives the PBC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they are expected to be the #1 seed and host of the NCAA Southeast Regional next week. The NCAA Tournament selection show will air live on NCAA.com at 10:30 pm Sunday night.
The game started out evenly and the teams were tied at 18 following the first quarter, but UNG pulled away in the second. With the game tied at 22, UNG's Emily Trushel drained a three-pointer, followed by a three from Ansley Hall. GSW came back to cut the lead to two, but Trushel hit a three and a layup in back-to-back possessions. Another Trushel bucket with 2:52 left gave the Nighthawks an eight-point edge which grew to as many as 10 before entering halftime with a 44-35 lead.
That lead grew to as many as 14 in the third quarter before GSW began chipping away, going on a 7-2 run to cut the lead to nine on a Destiny Garrett free throw. UNG scored five straight, capped by a driving layup from Averie Jones, but GSW responded with baskets from Ndidiamaka Ndukwe and Garett to trail by 10 after three quarters.
GSW cut the lead down to four points in the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by Tamyra Carter with 4:42 left made the score 71-67 and another basket from Garrett with 3:05 to go left the score a 73-69. But UNG did not falter, answering every Hurricane charge. Kendall Emener's layup with 1:37 to go for the Nighthawks broke a run and she scored again on the next possession for a 79-71 advantage with under a minute left that was too much to overcome.
Trushel led UNG with 26 points, hitting nine of 10 field goals and six of seven three-pointers. She added six assists and six rebounds. Jones was next with 20 while Emener finished with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds. Caroline Martin scored eight and had six steals, five rebounds and three assists. Trushel, Jones and Martin were all named to the All-Tournament team.
Ndukwe scored 26 points and led the team with six rebounds and four assists and was named the Tournament MVP. The senior from Inkster, Mich., averaged 28.7 points in three tournament games, setting the PBC single-game tournament scoring record with 38 in the quarterfinal win over Columbus State. She becomes the first Tournament MVP not from the winning team since Columbus State's Que Gilliam, who also set the tournament scoring record, in 1998.
All-Tournament Team
Quadaija Langley, Lander
Destiny Garrett, Georgia Southwestern
Caroline Martin, North Georgia
Emily Trushel, North Georgia
Averie Jones, North Georgia
Tournament MVP
Ndidiamaka Ndukwe, Georgia Southwestern