The University of North Georgia women’s basketball team is set to begin the 2024-2025 campaign Friday at home in Lynn Cottrell Arena.
Buffie Burson enters her 31st season as the head coach of the Nighthawks with over 600 career wins. Coach Burson’s resume includes 24 winning seasons and 15 postseason appearances. Her .690 career winning percentage ranks amongst the top across the country.
The Nighthawks finished last season 17-12 with a 10-8 record in Peach Belt Conference play but failed to reach the Division II Women’s NCAA Tournament. That broke a six-year streak of NCAA Tournament appearances that included a trip to the Final Four to end 2022.
UNG will turn to veteran leadership in their effort to return to the dance this season. The Nighthawks return seven players who have at least 12 career starts, leading to an older, more experienced team.
“Experience is something every team wants,” senior guard Carly Fahey said. “When you have players who know how to play together, it makes everything go smoother on the court and provides a lot of leadership for our team. We have played together long enough to know we all have the same goal, making it easier to hold each other accountable when we must.”
Both leading scorers from each of the past two seasons return in grad senior forward Emily Trushel and grad senior guard Caroline Martin. After missing all last season due to injury Martin, a 2023 PBC 1st team player should give the Nighthawks a much needed boost.
The Nighthawks will not settle for just returning to the tournament though. Inside the locker room there are high expectations for a special season.
“We are going into this season with big goals and high expectations for ourselves. We have a lot of key pieces on the team this year and we’ve been working super hard since the off-season last spring to build the chemistry we need in order to be great. We all have the same mindset, and it’s that we want to win championships. I know for me and a handful of others on the team, this is our last year of playing basketball ever so we’re ready to give all we got and do whatever it takes to win. I am super grateful to have such a talented team and an amazing coaching staff that also believes in us. We want to take this season one game at a time and be the best North Georgia team we can be.” – Emily Trushel grad senior forward
UNG begins the season by facing Emmanuel on Friday and rival Young Harris on Saturday both at home in Lynn Cottrell Arena.
