Women's Basketball Offense Erupts in Senior Night Win

Box score (PDF) | VIDEO: Seniors Ronnesha Smith and Meredyth Frye

STATESBORO, Ga. – Senior Meredyth Frye scored a season-high 26 points, and Georgia Southern shot a season-high 55 percent and scored 42 points in the first half en route to a 67-53 Southern Conference women's basketball victory over UNCG on Senior Night Saturday in Hanner Fieldhouse.

After being recognized prior to tipoff, Frye was 10-of-13 from the field, hit all five free throws and recorded six rebounds and two assists for Georgia Southern (7-21, 6-13 SoCon). Classmate Ronnesha Smith got her first start of the season and tallied two points, a rebound and an assist in a solid 10 minutes of action.

Anna Claire Knight scored 19 points, while MiMi DuBose finished with eight points and six rebounds and moved into fourth place on the GSU career 3-pointers list, two shy of her older sister, Lee, for third.

Janae' Stevenson led UNCG (6-22, 3-16 SoCon) with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Lucy Mason contributed 14 points and three steals.

Georgia Southern, which led from tip to horn, shot 55 percent in the first half and held the Spartans to 30 percent, while building a 42-24 lead at the break, their largest halftime advantage of the season. The Eagles wound up shooting a season-high 47 percent for the game.

"I thought our kids played free and confident and really moved the ball well," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "We played with the energy and aggressiveness with which we have been practicing."

Georgia Southern jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the contest as Knight and Frye scored four each. The margin grew to 17-4 7:37 into the contest as the duo tallied consecutive 3-point plays. Frye slipped a screen, hit a layup and was fouled, and on the next trip down the floor, Maggie Davis fed a cutting Knight with a nifty pass for another basket and the bonus.

The lead ballooned to as many as 18 points on a Jordi Cook 3-pointer from the wing with 8:21 left in the half. A Knight triple from the baseline made the score 40-22, and the Eagles went into the break with an 18-point cushion.

The Spartans worked the margin down to 15 points on a Jessica Collins' 3-pointer seven minutes into the second half, but the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run and pushed the lead back to 20 on a DuBose triple. GSU extended the advantage to 21 points, their largest of the contest, on a Knight triple from the baseline with 8:32 remaining.

UNCG countered with seven straight points, capped by a Mason runner to trim the margin to 60-46 with 3:12 to play. After a pair of Frye free throws, Mason was fouled on another runner and hit the free throw, making the score 62-49 with 2:21 left.

Frye hit a 3-pointer from the wing, and after a defensive stop, Knight scored on a layup to push the lead back to 16 points and seal the win.

The Eagles finish off the regular season with a home contest against Elon Monday at 7 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.

Category: Women's Basketball

Published on Saturday, 02 March 2013 21:36