Women's Basketball Pulls Away from Brewton-Parker in the Second Half , Wins 93-44
11/15/2008 5:25:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern women's basketball outscored Brewton-Parker 55-9 in the second half en route to a 93-44 win Saturday afternoon (Nov. 15) at Hanner Fieldhouse. It was the season-opener for the Lady Eagles.
The Lady Eagles opened the second half with a 22-0 run. Ashley Rivens (Charlotte, N.C.) nailed a three-pointer with 15:42 to go in the game to make the score 51-35 and force a Brewton-Parker timeout. Georgia Southern continued to hold the Barons scoreless in the second half until Zaneta Howard nailed a long jumper from just inside the three-point line with 11:34 to go in the second half to make the score 60-37.
“We stepped up and played well in the second half,” said head coach Rusty Cram. “We wore them down with our depth.”
The Lady Eagles shot 55% from behind the three-point line and went 13 of 16 from the charity stripe in the game. Georgia Southern also dominated the boards pulling down 60 rebounds to Brewton-Parker’s 35. Krista Tate (Atlanta, Ga.) led both teams with 10 rebounds.
“Krista Tate did an absolutely marvelous job defensively in the post game,” said coach Cram.
The Lady Eagles jumped out to an early 9-1 lead to start the game, but the Barons had a late first half surge to tie the game with only 35 seconds left in the half.
Sophomore Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) led the way in the early going with four points in four minutes. Navarro made just her second start of her career and both of her starts have come in season openers. She finished up the game with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Brewton-Parker cut the lead down to five, 15-10 at the 13:04 minute mark. Georgia Southern responded with big plays from some of its freshmen. Tate nailed a three-pointer with 12:52 to go in the first half. That was followed up by a Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) steal that led to a Carolyn Whitney (Duluth, Ga.) three-pointer which gave the Lady Eagles a 21-10 lead with 11:57 to go. Whitney scored 15 points and dished out six assists off the bench.
The Barons would not go away and made a late first half run. Shelby Pauling stole the ball and scored on a fast break layup to tie the game at 35-all. Pauling finished the half with 11 points, which at the time led all scorers.
Senior Ashley Melson (Newnan, Ga.) drained a three-pointer with 15 seconds to go before half to give the Lady Eagles a 38-35 halftime lead. Melson led Georgia Southern with eight points in the first half.
Georgia Southern only made 35 percent of its field goals in the first half, but shot 50 percent from behind the arc. Brewton-Parker had a 46 percent field goal percentage in the first half but was only 2-of-6 from beyond the arc.
The Lady Eagles outrebounded the Barons 27-14 in the first half, and scored seven second chance points off of 14 offensive rebounds.
“I was disappointed that the upperclassmen didn’t have the long minutes together in the first half and that we had to go to many freshmen too early. That is what caused the inconsistency in the first half,” said coach Cram.
Freshman Brittney Nelson (Rochester, Mich.) made a three-pointer from the right wing with 7:57 remaining to give the Lady Eagles a 30 point advantage. Nelson finished the game with 11 points and was 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
“The freshmen did a great job in the second half and gave us some big points,” said coach Cram.
Georgia Southern opened up a 40 point lead with 4:13 remaining in the second half. Williams made two free-throws to give the Lady Eagles an 82-42 lead over Brewton-Parker. She had 12 points and seven rebounds.
“Samantha is all over the floor. She is going to run around you, through you, over you or whatever she has to do. She is a competitor and I love that she is on our basketball team,” said coach Cram.
Georgia Southern shot better than 55 percent from the field in the second half and hit all six free throw attempts. The Lady Eagles also continued to make threes, going 7-of-12 in the second half.
“We got the team refocused for the second half and were able to keep our experienced players on the court. They got control of the game again like they did to start the game,” said coach Cram.
The Lady Eagles return to action Monday against Florida Atlantic (0-1) in Boca Raton, Fla. at 7 p.m.
