BAINBRIDGE, Ga. - The first game for the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Fillies basketball team at its sister campus in Bainbridge was a rewarding one Tuesday. The Fillies won their first ever Southern States Athletic Conference contest, holding off Thomas University for a 60-51 victory.

This is the second season for ABAC, not only at the four-year college level, but the second year since reviving the basketball program. Head coach Charles Wimberly reflected after the game on the building process.

"The whole thing was built from scratch," Wimberly said. "The proof is in the pudding, as Mama used to say. We worked really hard at practice."

Wimberly said he and the team have talked about the process. "You have to trust a process that it will love you back," he said. "You don't know when a process is going to love you back. Tonight, the process loved us back."

ABAC went 0-16 in its first SSAC season in 2024-25. Only 10 days earlier, the Fillies fell to the Night Hawks 70-52 in Thomasville.

This time, however, ABAC (2-5, 1-1 in the SSAC) jumped out early, going ahead 16-5 at 1:56 in the first quarter on a basket by Shakiria Chaney.

Tuesday's halftime score was much closer, 26-22. The Fillies maintained a 10-point lead for most of the quarter - Zamiyah Hosley nailed a three-pointer at 3:48 to lead 24-14 - but the Night Hawks came roaring back, cutting the lead to four with 27 seconds left on a layup by Zyi'Kiera King.

ABAC's lead disappeared in the third. Thomas went up 30-28 at 3:35. Dailey Jefferson tied the score briefly at 30 but the Fillies seemed in trouble on an Elicia Smith trey at 1:45 that gave the visitors a 33-30 advantage. Fortunately, it did not last.

In the last minute of the third period, Chaney made a pair of free throws to pull to 33-32. They went back in front 34-33 when Camiya Starks stole the ball and scored on a fast break. It was 34-33, ABAC, going into the fourth quarter.

Thomas erased that small lead a minute into the fourth and then went up 39-36 on a free throw by La'Tarius  Montgomery at 7:49. Twenty seconds later, Chaney tied the score on a shot from deep and at 6:24, Hosley free shots had ABAC ahead at 41-39.

"We got through adversity, they took the lead on us in the middle of the third quarter," Wimberly said. "They came back again in the middle of the fourth quarter and we stuck at it."

There were two more ties, then the Fillies broke the game open.

Jefferson and Chaney made back-to-back three-pointers, the latter at 3:26. Chaney scored seven straight points to make it 53-43 with 2:33 to go.

Thomas had a last surge, scoring the next six points, but Taylor Frazier came up with a free throw with 55 seconds left. Reese Riddle then ended the next Night Hawks possession with a steal and she made a free throw with 46 seconds left.

The Night Hawks again cut it four points (55-51) but with 25 seconds to go, Thomas University had to foul.

Riddle, Chaney and Hosley made 5-of-6 from the stripe to seal the win.

"All the credit goes to the kids," Wimberly said. The tell-tale sign, he said, were rebounds.

Both Chaney and Jefferson finished with double-doubles: 25 points and 10 rebounds for Chaney, and 10 points and 10 rebounds for Jefferson. Chaney added three steals and two blocks. Hosley scored 7 points and Riddle added 6.

Tuesday was the Fillies' first ever game in Bainbridge. Wimberly is hoping to make a tradition out of it.

"It was fun to play on this floor," he said. "It's something I hope to do every year, come back here and play a game." Wimberly would like to have a men's and women's conference doubleheader at Bainbridge.

ABAC will be back on the Tifton hardwood Saturday, taking on Life University at noon in another SSAC conference meeting. This will be a doubleheader with the Stallions also taking on Life.