Lady Bulldogs snap losing skid. Up next is critical stretch vs. four ranked SEC foes

Within 11 seconds, Shaniya Jones and Que Morrison served as the shock to revive Georgia’s proverbial heartbeat in a comeback win over Auburn.

Morrison made a layup and snagged a steal on the following inbounds play. She turned around to find Jones — a blazing-hot version, in fact, of the player known as a “walking bucket” — who converted a layup to allow a large Sunday crowd at Stegeman Coliseum to erupt. Auburn called timeout, Jones found teammate Stephanie Paul for a chest bump. One emphatic enough for Tigers’ guard Annie Hughes to tumble to the ground while being caught in the middle of the celebration.

Jones had many plays similar to that third-quarter spurt that energized Georgia (11-7, 2-3 SEC) to beat SEC bottom-dweller and rival Auburn, 61-50. She finished with 21 points (tying her season-high set in her debut vs. Furman) while shooting an efficient 9 of 15. Morrison added a semblance of scrappiness with a team-high eight rebounds.

“She did it again. She’s back, and this is what we needed,” junior guard Maya Caldwell said of Jones. “She is a high-level scorer, and to me this is not a surprise. We love to see it, and would love to see it again. She did her thing tonight, and I’m so proud of her.”

“Thanks, buddy,” Jones replied as Caldwell patted her head in a loving gesture. Both natives of North Carolina, Caldwell and Jones knew each other on the AAU circuit.

More importantly, Georgia snapped out of a three-game losing streak after its start to SEC play appeared to be spiraling. The Lady Bulldogs never thought about giving up on the season, but hope dimmed after a 1-3 start to conference play, a home loss to Vanderbilt and falling short in chances to beat ranked teams in Mississippi State and Tennessee.

A strong second half of play piloted Georgia’s victory after an ugly start against the pressure-happy Tigers. Jones said her head coach, Joni Taylor, called the team’s start “unacceptable,” and it responded with a statement to close. A pair of runs (10-2 and 7-0) led the way to the Lady Bulldogs posting a 36-21 advantage through the final 20 minutes. Georgia trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, but claimed its first lead and never relinquished it.

“This had to be our turnaround. It was a must to win this game,” Caldwell said. “We have to play every game like there’s a chip on our shoulder. … This is just the start and we have to get back to work.”

Taylor remembers Georgia starting 0-4 in her first season as head coach, then rallying back for an NCAA tournament berth. To this point, the Lady Bulldogs faced a similar trajectory and have an upcoming gauntlet against ranked teams. Three of those games are away.

Many factors led to victory over Auburn becoming a necessity, so the significance of doing so became palpable. Frustration — which boiled over in a loss 10 days prior — turned to elation, laughs and plenty of smiles to go around Georgia’s bench Sunday.

And for Georgia, it only means good things when Taylor’s daughter, Jacie, makes an appearance at the post-game press conference. She told her mom “I want to go to media” and smiled, winked and gazed around the room while Taylor spoke on the game.

Sunday’s win over Auburn served as rejuvenation and a sigh of relief. A victory that could be foreshadowed by last week’s loss that was closer than the score indicated and the Lady Bulldogs saw themselves as “close.”

“Anytime you get a win and boost of momentum in this league, you’re happy about it,” Taylor said. “This was a big win for us. We had a great crowd, lost three in a row and it feels good to get back on the winning side.”

While Georgia draws plenty of justified positives from snapping a skid, the game was far from pretty. The Lady Bulldogs looked lifeless early on and were careless with the basketball, and energy evaporated out of a lower bowl full of spectators. Even when Georgia’s fortunes turned, ugly moments still appeared. A combined 35 turnovers, missed chip-shot layups, Auburn being called for a backcourt violation due to concentration lapse, Georgia jogging backward to play defense while being awarded a jump ball and even a “Finish That Lyric” fan-engagement segment went awry.

Nonetheless, Georgia saw growth by seeing its production coming from unlikely sources. During a second-quarter comeback, Paul was the only starter on the court. Georgia racked up 34 bench points (56% of total scoring) as opposed to four from Auburn.

Georgia has struggled to find a consistently-fruitful rotation this season, and Taylor has called for a player to “step up.” At one point, the Lady Bulldogs had a radical change with Chapman, Jones, Caitlin Hose, Malury Bates and Jordan Isaacs paired together. Other than Hose, Taylor considers each player a newcomer.

“You look out there and think, ‘This can go really bad (with no leadership),’” Taylor said. “But it’s gone about as bad as it can already go. They’ve deserved a chance, so let’s ride with it. They got us back in the game. Kudos to them.”

Georgia crossed another stepping stone rather than claiming a statement Sunday. Taylor sees the growth and a desire to improve. The chance for a defining victory can come during the next four games.

An unforgiving stretch includes No. 23 Arkansas, No. 1 South Carolina, No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 10 Mississippi State. The only contest inside the Lady Bulldogs’ friendly confines comes against the nation’s top team. It’s almost become mandatory for Georgia to claim at least one of these games in order to return to the NCAA tournament picture. Entering play Sunday it held an RPI of 75 and three of the aforementioned teams are ranked within the top 15.

While not having a so-called signature win this season, Georgia has come close. It lost to Mississippi State by seven on Jan. 5 while taking 20 fewer shots due to turnovers. One-loss UCLA held on to beat Georgia by nine. Georgia had a fighting chance at defending national champion Baylor before only scoring four fourth-quarter points.

“There are sometimes where you’re like, ‘Oh my, we were this close.’ But we still didn’t finish out,” Taylor said. “That has been our theme this year. You feel good in some ways, but we still didn’t get the win so you don’t feel great.”

Now comes a series of chances.

“We have to figure out a way to get those wins and hang on at the end of the game,” center Jenna Staiti said. “We have to figure out how to limit (a series of mistakes).”

Georgia’s task ahead isn’t easy, but it is imperative. The team can breathe with a semblance of confidence.

After seeing a glimpse of freefall with another first-half deficit, a roaring comeback and an efficient shooter in Jones gave the Lady Bulldogs a heartbeat back.

“We come into every game believing it’s ours,” Morrison said.