AMERICUS, Ga. | Meredith Tarver and Briana Bell combined for 46 points as Young Harris College defeated Georgia Southwestern State University 64-51 in a Peach Belt Conference women's basketball game Wednesday (Feb. 1) evening at the Storm Dorm.

The Mountain Lions snapped their three-game losing streak as they improved to 8-11 overall and to 4-8 in the Peach Belt, while the Hurricanes fell 11-9 and 6-7. Young Harris wraps up its three-game road trip Saturday (Feb. 4) when they face No. 10 Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

Georgia Southwestern took its only lead of the game at 7-5 on a three-pointer by Gabby Figgers with 6:21 remaining in the first quarter. Young Harris caught fire as they closed out the quarter on a 16-4 run to take a 21-11 lead after the first 10 minutes. Young Harris, who only had eight players dressed,  hit four three-pointers - two by Bell and one each by Tarver and Sara Jorgensen - during the decisive rally.

The Mountain Lions shot a sizzling 66.7 percent (8-of-12) from the field, including 4-of-6 from long distance, in the first quarter. YHC limited Georgia Southwestern to 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from the floor over the same time frame.

"This was a gutty performance," said YHC head coach Matt Stearsman. "We had to leave one home who was sick and they all picked up the slack. We had three people play 40 minutes. Tough times don't last, tough people do and that's the only reason we one this game. Toughness. I'm very proud of them. Great team performance tonight."

YHC, which lead 29-19 at the half, led by as many as 13 points (32-19) after a Tarver three-pointer in the opening moments of the third quarter. Georgia Southern scored the next seven points as the Hurricanes closed to within six points (32-26) on an Aleah Holden layup with 7:01 to go.

The Mountain Lions responded with 10-2 run of their own as they pushed their lead back to 14 points (42-28) on an old-fashioned three-point play by Bell with 2:43 to go. YHC took its biggest lead of the game (53-38) on another Bell three-point play with 6:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. The closest the Hurricanes would get the rest of the way was nine points (60-51) with 64 seconds left.

Tarver led the Mountain Lions with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and added 10 rebounds. Bell finished with 21 points while Jorgensen added 10 more. Jenny Vernet grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and added six points.

Figgers led the Hurricanes with 17 points, while Brittany Grant added 12.