STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern women's basketball team hosts its first games of the 2018 New Year on Thursday and Saturday, welcoming Arkansas State and Little Rock into Hanner Fieldhouse for Sun Belt Conference action.
The Eagles (3-10, 0-2 SBC) are looking to halt a seven-game slide and notch its first Sun Belt win of the year on Thursday against the Red Wolves (6-7, 1-1 SBC), who have alternated wins and losses in each game so far this season. The two teams met in the Sun Belt Conference tournament a year ago, with Arkansas State taking a 61-54 win over the Georgia Southern.
The Sun Belt-opening trip to Alabama for the Eagles resulted in a pair of tough offensive efforts as Georgia Southern lost to Troy, 88-49, and South Alabama, 79-52. One bright spot over the weekend was the play of sophomore Hailey Dias-Allen, who reached double digits in both contests and had a career-high 12 points in the game against the Jaguars on Saturday. Eight different Georgia Southern players have been the teams' leading scorer so far this year, including the back-to-back efforts by Dias-Allen.
Arkansas State is led by Akasha Westbrook's 13 points per game, as well as Jada Ford's 10.4 points per game. The Red Wolves have had a couple of signature non-conference wins this year, beating Florida, 70-69, at Florida as well as UTEP, 76-73.
You can follow the action from Thursday's 5 p.m. contest against Arkansas State live on True Blue TV or listen to Colin Lacy's call on the Georgia Southern Sports Network. Live stats are also available through gseagles.com.
Saturday, Georgia Southern faces Little Rock at 2 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse. The Trojans (5-8, 2-0 SBC) have played the toughest non-conference schedule among Sun Belt teams, with their strength of schedule ranking 64th in the nation. Little Rock opened up Sun Belt play over the weekend with a pair of big wins over Louisiana (W 78-43) and UL Monroe (W 57-37) to come into this road trip tied atop the league at 2-0.
Since joining the Sun Belt, Georgia Southern is 0-5 against Little Rock, including a 57-41 loss to the Trojans in Arkansas last season. Little Rock gave up just 53.9 points per league contest last year and gave up just 40 points per game in its first two contests. Ronjanae and Raeyana DeGray lead the Trojans offensively, with Ronjanae averaging 11.8 points per game and shooting 52 percent from the field. Raeyana is averaging 8.4 points per game.
Saturday's game will also be available live on True Blue TV and on the Georgia Southern Sports Network, with live stats also available.
