AUGUSTA, Ga. -  GRU Augusta dropped a 77-69 Peach Belt Conference final on Saturday afternoon to the Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes despite taking a halftime lead with a late first-half comeback.

Georgia Southwestern (9-14, 5-12) lead the entire first half until the closing minutes. At the six minute mark, the Jags cut it to five off a senior Dericka Griffis layup. Two minutes later, senior Becky Newhouse nailed a 3-pointer to bring GRU (9-12, 5-9)  within two and Griffis' layup from Marissa Mandeldove's inbound pass tied the game at 30-all.

Freshman Tavia Sykes sunk a jumper for the Jags' first lead of the game and senior Becky Newhouse beat the buzzer for a fast-break layup to steal a 38-33 halftime lead. The Jags only shot 33.3 percent from the field in the first half, but the late run under two minutes kept them in a close game.

Both teams made it a two-point game for the opening minutes of the second half until GSW broke it open with Shanedra Lockett taking over. Lockett finished the day with a game-high 24 points, adding four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Lockett's scoring and Tiara Thompson and Jasmine McSwain's 15 points each, helped the Hurricanes to a 77-69 final.

GSW shot 75.0 percent from the floor in the second and 68.0 for the game to beat the Jags, despite GRU shooting 79.3 from the floor for the game. Newhouse notched a double-double to lead the Jags with 20 points and 11 boards, while Sykes posted 11 points and Whitney Rohrbach and Griffis each added 10.  J' Ashby came off the bench to play in her first game since Jan. 25 at UNC Pembroke to put up four points and five boards in the loss.

GRU hosts Columbus State tomorrow for a PBC game at 2:00 p.m. in Christenberry Fieldhouse.