The University of North Georgia (UNG) women’s basketball team has secured the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular-season championship and earned the top seed in the upcoming PBC tournament, scheduled for March 5-9.
As the No. 1 seed, the Nighthawks will host No. 8 seed Clayton State at 5 p.m. on March 5 for their tournament opener at the Convocation Center in Dahlonega.
Tickets for the quarterfinal game are available for $10 on the PBC website. UNG students, faculty, and staff can attend for free with their personalized UNG Connect QR code in the Campus Groups app. Admission is also free for children 5 and under. Should UNG win, the Nighthawks will play in the semifinals on March 8 and, if successful, the championship game on March 9—both also in Dahlonega.
The Nighthawks finished the regular season with an impressive 26-2 record, including 16-2 in PBC play, and a program-best 11-0 record on the road. This marks their fifth PBC regular-season title, joining previous championships in 2006, 2018, 2019, and 2022. The team now shifts its focus to securing their fifth PBC tournament crown.
The winner of UNG’s quarterfinal matchup will face the winner between No. 4 seed Georgia College and No. 5 seed Flagler in the semifinals on March 8.
Ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region and No. 8 nationally, the Nighthawks are in strong contention to host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional the following week.
“Obviously, everyone’s goal when you start conference play is to position yourself to host the tournament. The fact that we will be at home in front of our loyal fans is a huge boost of confidence for us,” head coach Buffie Burson said. “It also means we did something really hard, and we want to protect that, finish the job and put ourselves in the best possible situation for the NCAA tournament.”
This will be Burson’s seventh NCAA tournament appearance in the last eight seasons and the program’s eighth overall. In her 31st season as head coach, Burson has led the Nighthawks to impressive NCAA postseason results, including a national semifinal appearance in 2022, an Elite Eight in 2019, and Sweet Sixteen berths in 2018 and 2021. Under her leadership, the team has also advanced to the NAIA Elite Eight three times.
Graduate guard Caroline Martin leads the Nighthawks with 17 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while graduate forward Emily Trushel contributes 14.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. Freshman guard Averie Jones adds 11.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, with senior guard Ansley Hall averaging 10.1 points and 4.8 assists. Sophomore forward Kendall Emener rounds out the scoring with 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
“We have an experienced, hungry group who have chosen to keep distractions out of the picture all season,” Burson said. “Also, the fact that we’ve had so many different people lead us in scoring each night has been exciting to see, along with the unselfishness displayed in our high number of assists per game.”
