Women's Basketball | 11/1/2016 9:41:00 PM

Box Score (PDF)

STATESBORO – Patrice Butler and Angel McGowan picked up right where they left off last season as the senior duo guided the Georgia Southern women's basketball team to a 96-44 win over Coastal Georgia in a home exhibition Tuesday night inside Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles scored 23 or more points in all four quarters and shot 45.1% (37-82) for the game, including 55.6% (10-18) in the fourth quarter, while holding the Mariners to just eight points in both the first and third quarters and 24.6% (16-65) shooting from the field for the game. All 15 Eagles on the Georgia Southern roster played and 12 scored as the Eagles dominated from start to finish in their tune-up game.

Butler, who ended last season in the midst of a streak of nine games where she scored in double-figures, led all scorers with 18 points off a 7-for-13 (.538) shooting performance and just missed out on a double-double as she corralled in nine rebounds. McGowan ended the night with 16 points, including three three-pointers and a 7-for-9 outing at the free throw line. Freshman point guard Amira Atwater and junior forward/guard Alexis Foulks rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Eagles with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Junior Sierra Butler also just missed out on a double-double as she brought down a game-high 11 boards to go along with eight points.

The Story
Tempo was the name of the game for the Eagles Tuesday night, much to the delight of head coach Kip Drown, his staff and the over 400 people in attendance. With redshirt-sophomore point guard Jakayvea Akins and Atwater splitting time running the offense, GS pushed the pace of the game from the onset. Despite scoring just eight fast break points, the Eagles were able to consistently get numbers down the court and took advantage of a gassed Mariner squad early, racing out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game which became 24-8 by the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the score was 47-22 in favor of the Eagles.

Atwater, who went 6-for-7 (.857) from the field, played 17 total minutes, the most of the freshmen, after entering the game for the first time with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. Drown and staff consistently changed the personnel on the court, giving the entire team plenty of opportunities to take on different roles and play with different players on the court.

QUOTE FROM COACH KIP DROWN
On the overall feel of the game, starting off with a victory  
"Confidence is a huge thing for us right now. I think anytime we can go out and play well and we can come away with a win, and anytime the players can feel like they did some good things, I think that builds our confidence. I really think that's one of the last things we are lacking to become a really good team. We have the talent and ability, we have a lot of factors there and things that are going to be very positive for us moving forward, but I think it's just a belief in ourselves. And I think the very last thing that great teams do well is they handle adversity, but we haven't had to handle any just yet. Tonight was a nice win. We're just a lot further along than we were at this point last season and that's exciting to see. We just need to take some things from tonight, watch some video and there are some things that we need to get better at. I've been excited about this group all along and I think this group has a chance to have nice year, but it's just a matter of continuing to get better every day."

On the tempo of the game
"(To push the tempo) was something we really wanted to emphasize tonight. I told our players at the start of the year that they don't know how fast I really want them to play because we didn't really get to play as fast as we wanted to last year. Speedy (Akins) and Amira both did a really good job of pushing the pace tonight. They make other players better because now when you run that kind of tempo, you have Angel and Alexis Sams running wings and spotting up and you have Patrice coming in as a trailer, or whoever it might be, and they find them. Tempo has a way of taking defenses and crunching them down and now you have a lot of people who can get open. We have to shoot the ball a little better from three than we did tonight, and we're capable of doing that. I thought the tempo is starting to get to where we want it to be in regards to being aggressive and attacking all time."

On all 15 players getting into the game, including all five freshmen
"That was something we as a staff had talked about wanting to do and I was very glad to be able to get everybody in. I told the rest of the coaching staff at the start of the fourth quarter that I was going to go with one group for a couple minutes, then we'll go with the starters again for a couple minutes and then we're going to let the final group that hadn't played quite as many minutes go. We were able to do that, see everybody play against someone other than their own teammates and got those first game jitters out of the way."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern will open the regular season next Friday, Nov. 11 at home against North Carolina A&T. The Aggies made it to the NCAA Tournament last season and will prove a formidable foe for the Eagles' opener. GS and NCA&T will tip off at 7 p.m. inside Hanner Fieldhouse.


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