Lady Eagles Earn Second Straight One-Point Win

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Lady Eagles earned their second straight one-point win with a 41-40 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts in the 7th annual Pack the House in Pink contest. The Lady Eagles held on for over three minutes after both squads finished scoreless in the fourth-straight game decided by one point.

"We certainly have got work to do. When you play so many young kids they have to learn when we get a lead we have to put teams away," said Head Coach Rusty Cram. "They have been put in some pretty tough situations and are getting a lot of experience."

Despite a player not reaching double figures, Georgia Southern (7-12, 3-7) earned its third Southern Conference win behind 9 points and six rebounds from Anna Claire Knight (Dublin, Ga.). The Lady Eagles shot 42.9% from the floor but were held to 35 attempts. Jordi Cook (Tunnel Hill, Ga.) added eight points to go along with MiMi DuBose's (Jefferson, Ga.) seven.

"You don't score 3,000 points in high school and not know what to do with the ball," said Cram. "Anna Claire is right on that borderline of breaking into the starting lineup. She has been giving us quality minutes and is getting better every time she steps on that court."

Western Carolina (6-12, 1-8) made up for a low 28.6 shooting percentage by holding GSU to 27 rebounds, their second lowest total of the season, and forcing 20 turnovers. Alex Abraham and Janae McKinney both scored seven points to lead the Catamounts' offense.

Georgia Southern led 22-18 at the halftime break but a pair of cold streaks to open and close the contest allowed Western Carolina to remain within striking distance. Knight was able to find space in the defense and drove to the hole for seven points in the first half. Cook added a pair of threes in just nine minutes of action. Alex Abraham, who tallied eight points and seven rebounds at Elon, led the Catamounts in the period with five points and four boards.

After starting the contest scoreless for nearly the first six minutes, Georgia Southern scored its first basket on a layup by Knight. They ran off 14 unanswered points in a span of nearly three minutes, and Cook nailed back-to-back treys from behind the arc to put the Lady Eagles up 14-3. GSU maintained a double-digit lead and was ahead 22-9 with 5:06 remaining before hitting another cold streak. Western Carolina nearly erased the 13 point advantage with 9 unanswered points and held the Lady Eagles scoreless over the final five minutes.

A trip to locker room at half was not enough to snap Georgia Southern's cold streak. The Catamounts took full advantage of the scoring outage, retaking the lead for the first time since 16:07 in the first half.  Rena Wakama and Makensey Campbell hit back-to-back three pointers to put Western Carolina ahead 24-23. The Lady Eagles pulled back ahead with a 10-2 run and led 33-32 with 9:06 remaining.

Georgia Southern returns to Hanner Fieldouse next Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against the College of Charleston.

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Category: Women's Basketball

Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:33