The Lady Hawks closed out the 2015 portion of the season Wednesday afternoon, falling to North Georgia 69-63, on the road in Dahlonega, Ga.

Shorter moves to 7-3 on the season; while the Nighthawks improve to 10-1 overall.

The Lady Hawks opened the game with a 10-4 run to take the lead, maintaining the advantage throughout the remainder of the period to take an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.

Only to have North Georgia use an 11-3 run to open the period and go ahead 23-21 on a jumper from Kelsey Hutchins just before the media timeout. Through the remaining five minutes the Lady Hawks kept the game close and regained the lead when Madison Rice converted a pair of free throws with two seconds to play; taking a 31-30 lead into the break.

After halftime, the Nighthawks began pulling away after Hutchins tied the game at 34 with 6:47 to go in the third, building their lead to as many as five. Trailing, Shorter tightened the defense, forcing North Georgia to turn the ball over, allowing the Lady Hawks to close the gap; moving to the final ten minutes only down by three, 48-45.

Shorter opened the final quarter on a 6-2 run to take the lead on a three-pointer from Shakierya McClendon with 8:19 to go. And, over the next few minutes the teams traded the lead, but the Nighthawks turned in one final push to regain the advantage for good, turning in their largest lead of the day when Ciera Jackson netted a jumper to make it a ten point game with 1:24 to go. Shorter worked to close the gap in the final minute, cutting the lead to four on a layup from Kayla Tillie, and closed out the game on a 7-3 run.

Rice and Jackie Hudson led the offense for the Lady Hawks, each turning in eleven points on the afternoon. While, Tamarr Williams finished with nine points and McClendon tallied eight. Taylor Adams turned in a team high eight rebounds on the day, and Tillie dished out four assists.

Hutchins led the Nighthawks with a game high 24 points.  

Shorter will be back in action Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm eastern when they travel to Livingston, Ala. to take on the University of West Alabama in Gulf South Conference play.