Lady Eagles Earn Third-Straight Win in Return to SoCon Play

STATESBORO, Ga. - In a team effort, the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles earned their third-straight win in a return to Southern Conference play Monday. Tashayla Steede (Marietta, Ga.) notched a career-high 11 points in the 56-48 victory over the Wofford Terriers. The Lady Eagles led by as many as 12 points in the second half but led by just two points with two minutes remaining before closing out the contest with an 8-2 run.

"It is different people on different nights right now," stated Head Coach Rusty Cram. "We stress team, and I thought you saw a great example of a team game tonight."

Georgia Southern (5-8, 1-3) scored 26 points in the paint for the second game in a row and scored 17 points off of turnovers, two more than Wofford (8-5, 1-3). Meredyth Frye (Fredricksburg, Va.) joined Steede with 11 points, while MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) added 10 points including a trey that snapped a 10-0 Terrier run in the second half.

Speaking about that trey Cram said, "Part of what we have been lacking is people to stand up in the crucial times. MiMi wasn't really hitting tonight, but she did hit a big three. She picked a great time to finish one."

On the defensive end, Janay Wilson (Warner Robins, Ga.) recorded three of the team's season-high 10 steals while managing nine points and six rebounds. The Lady Eagles added four blocks on the defensive end and held Wofford to just 24% shooting in the second period to hold the Terriers to their third-lowest points total of the season.

"Turnovers have been our nemesis all year," stated Cram. "We are trying to get ours down below 15 while starting to get people to create more turnovers on the defensive end. That is just experience. These kids are growing up before our eyes."

Daniella Motley led a Wofford team, that shot 46.4% in the first half but went a cold 6-for-25 in the second period, with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. April Moorehouse added nine boards to the team's total of 33 and was one of three Terriers in double figures with 12 points. Morgan Wrightson went a perfect four-for-four from the charity stripe and notched 11 points before fouling out.

The first half ended much like it opened with the two squads deadlocked at 29-29. Both teams went cold in the final five minutes, combining for just eight points. Georgia Southern's final basket in the half came with just a hair under four minutes to play. Motley led all scorers in the period with 11 points and was a force inside for the Terriers, who tallied 18 of their points in the paint. DuBose led the Lady Eagles with seven points.

The two teams started the half by trading baskets before Wofford's defense forced a shot-clock violation, and Motley drained the team's fourth-straight point with 12:42 remaining to break the stalemate. Danielle Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) pulled Georgia Southern back within two points. The Terriers came right back with five unanswered points to open a seven-point spread, their largest of the half, with 10 minutes to play. The Lady Eagles countered with an 8-0 run over the next 1:20 and took their first lead of the contest, 20-19, after Wilson swiped the ball and laid it in for the easy basket.

GSU shook off the cold finish to the first period and opened the second half with a 13-4 run over seven minutes behind six points from Steede and four from Frye. The Lady Eagles extended their lead to 11 points after a layup by Frye with 9:26 remaining. Following a layup by Motley, neither team could notch a basket for nearly four minutes. Motley broke the ice with a jumper and Wofford rattled off ten-straight to pull within two, 48-46.

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Category: Women's Basketball

Published on Monday, 02 January 2012 20:22