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Georgia Southern University Athletics

Women's Basketball

Women?s Basketball Travels to Auburn and Colorado

STATESBORO, GA – Over the Thanksgiving week, the Georgia Southern women's basketball team will travel to Auburn and Colorado for the Omni Hotels Classic. The Lady Eagles hit Auburn on Tuesday, November 24, before traveling to Boulder, Colorado for the two-day Omni Hotels Classic, November 27-28.

 For the third time in head coach Rusty Cram's tenure, the Lady Eagles will face the Auburn Tigers. Georgia Southern dropped a 71-45 decision to the Tigers in Hanner Fieldhouse last season. Jessica Geiger (Stone Mountain, Ga.) led both teams with 10 rebounds, while Ashley Melson paced Georgia Southern with 12 points. Alli Smalley drained 18 points for the Tigers to lead all scorers, while Parisha Simmons picked up seven boards to lead the edge on glass for Auburn.

Georgia Southern (1-1) is coming off a 69-42 defeat at No. 11/12 Duke (November 19). The Lady Eagles held the Blue Devils to their lowest scoring total of the season and 20 points below their scoring average. J'Lisia Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) chipped in 11 points for the Lady Eagles and Geiger pulled down six boards. Freshman Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) was second on the team in scoring with eight points, six coming from beyond the arc. Both Frye and Kayla Dayton (Monroe, N.C.) connected on two treys. Dayton hit her two in the opening 20 minutes, while Frye drained two in the second half en route to a 9-4 Georgia Southern run.

After two games, Ogburn leads the team in scoring averaging 14.5 points per game. Geiger averages 7.5 rebounds per contest to lead the Lady Eagles in rebounding.

Auburn enters Tuesday's contest with a record of 2-2 having dropped a 79-59 outcome to No. 15/8 Texas A&M (November 22). Smalley led the Tigers against the Aggies with 18 points, while KeKe Carrier picked up eight rebounds, five of which were defensive. Carrier also added nine points to Auburn's offense. Texas A&M capitalized on Auburn's 23 turnovers, scoring 32 points on the Tigers' errors.

For the season, Smalley paces the offense for Auburn, averaging 20.5 points per contest. Jordan Greenleaf leads the team in rebounding, picking up 6.3 boards on average.

Auburn leads the all-time series, 3-1, against Georgia Southern. The only win Georgia Southern has recorded over Auburn dates back to 1976-77 season when coach Linda Crowder led the Lady Eagles past the Tigers, 69-62, in Statesboro. Since then, Auburn has won three straight over Georgia Southern, with the last in 2008.

After the trip to Auburn, the Lady Eagles travel to Boulder, Colo. for a two-day tournament after Thanksgiving. The Omni Hotels Classic, scheduled for November 27-28, will be hosted by the University of Colorado. A four-team field, which includes Georgia Southern, Harvard, University of New Orleans and host Colorado, will challenge for the tournament title in the Coors Event Center.

SCOUTING COLORADO
2009 Record: 2-1
2008 Record: 11-18
The Buffaloes opened their 2009-2010 season with victories over UC Irvine and Illinois-Chicago before dropping an 87-78 decision at Minnesota most recently. Brittany Spears leads Colorado with 21.3 points on average and 11.3 boards per contest.

SCOUTING HARVARD
2009 Record: 2-1
2008 Record: 19-10
The Harvard Crimson will face New Hampshire on Tuesday, November 24, before the Omni Hotels Classic. The Crimson are currently 2-1 on the season, capturing wins over Boston College to open the season and Maine. Harvard most recently dropped a 92-77 contest at Sacred Heart. Victoria Lippert leads Harvard with a 15.7 scoring average, followed by Emma Markely who averages 13.7 points. Markley also leads the Crimson with 5.0 rebounds on average.

SCOUTING NEW ORLEANS
2009 Record: 2-1
2008 Record: 14-17
The University of New Orleans Privateers also opened their season with victories before dropping the lone decision of the season. UNO picked up wins over McNeese State and Nicholls before falling to Southern Methodist, 63-52. UNO is led by Brittany Helm who averages 13.3 points per game, while Candice McGee leads the Privateers pulling down 9.0 rebounds on average.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY
Tournament action kicks off Friday, November 27, with New Orleans and Harvard facing off at 4:30 p.m. before Colorado challenges Georgia Southern that evening at 7 p.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday with the consolation game at 4:30 p.m. and the championship game at 7 p.m. All times are local Mountain Standard Time (MST) and all games will take place in the Coors Event Center.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Fans can follow all games via live stats offered by host school Colorado. Visit www.cubuffs.com for live stats links at tip off.
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