Lady Eagles Meet Akron in Opening Round of SMU Tournament
11/26/2010 4:35:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SERIES RECORDS
Georgia Southern is 1-0 against Akron with the last meeting coming during the 1987-88 season. The Eagles won 85-61 in the first game of the Lady Herd Classic in Huntington, W.Va. Lady Eagle Antoinette Brown contributed 18 points in the game coming off six three-point baskets, which set the initial three-point record for Georgia Southern.
The Lady Eagles opened their 2001-02 season at the BU Tournament, falling to SMU in a close 56-53 game. The Lady Eagles and Mustangs have met that one time in the program history with SMU holding the 1-0 series advantage.
If Georgia Southern and Arkansas State meet in the next round, it will be the first time the two programs have met.
SMU MUSTANGS
SMU picked up its first win of the season by defeating UTSA 69-47. Senior guard Raquel Christian scored a career-best 23 points in the win as the Mustangs shot 53 percent from the field. Christian hit five of her six three-point attempts. SMU lost a heartbreaker in double overtime at 23rd-ranked TCU, 87-73 after a season-opening loss to Utah in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs lost three starters from last year's 20-11 team that finished second in Conference USA and earned a trip to the 2010 WNIT.
ON THE ROAD
The Lady Eagles opened the 2010-11 season at then-19th-ranked Georgia, then played two games at home before beginning this seven-game stretch of games on the road. Two seasons ago, the Lady Eagles spend most of the month of December on the road with seven games away from Hanner Fieldhouse.
AT THE CHARITY STRIPE
Georgia Southern has three players in the Southern Conference top 10 in the free throw percentage category. Candice Ivy (Roswell, Ga.) is tied for the league lead with a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe with Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) tied for sixth with an 89.5 percentage (17-19). Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) has connected on nine of her 11 attempts for an 81.8 free throw percentage. As a team, the Lady Eagles (60-76) rank second behind Samford (20-25) in the conference statistics.
CONFERENCE PLAY NEXT WEEK
The Lady Eagles take a break from their non-conference schedule for two Southern Conference games next week. Georgia Southern will play at 6 p.m. at Wofford on Wednesday, December 1st and at Chattanooga Saturday, December 4th. SportSouth will televise the game between the Lady Eagles and Lady Mocs with a 3:30 p.m.tipoff.
LAST GAME
Senior point guard Jamie Navarro recorded her third-straight double-figure scoring game, but three double-figure Jacksonville scorers helped propel the Dolphins to a 72-56 win over the Lady Eagles. Junior Krista Tate (Atlanta, Ga.) picked up eight of her 11 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit at Swisher Gymnasium.
Navarro scored nine of the Lady Eagles' first 11 points as the lead teetered between one, two or three points for most of the first half. Jacksonville put together an 11-2 run over a four-minute span to pull out to an eight-point lead and then capitalized on three Georgia Southern turnovers to go up 26-15 with eight minutes left to play in the first half.
Over the next three minutes, the Lady Eagles would keep Jacksonville scoreless while Navarro contributed five points in less than a minute to get back within five. The Dolphins and Lady Eagles traded almost point-for-point, however, Jacksonville used an 8-3 run to close out the first 20 minutes for a 41-31 halftime lead. The Dolphins shot 51.7 percent from the field in the first half to Georgia Southern's 40.9 percent.
A 27.6 second-half shooting percentage and four-minute scoring drought didn't help the Lady Eagles as they tried to cut the Dolphins' lead. Gigi Thomas had 15 points with Crystal Bell putting in 14 for the Dolphins. The Lady Eagles' MiMi DuBose had nine points off the bench with three rebounds and a blocked shot. Freshman Danielle Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) grabbed a career-best five rebounds, sharing the Lady Eagle lead with Tate.
FOLLOW THE LADY EAGLES
Fans can follow the Georgia Southern Women's Basketball team by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/ladyeagles and follow game scores at twitter.com/GSScores. Short updates are also available at facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics.
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