Ogburn Scores Career-High in 77-73 Win Over Mountaineers
2/28/2010 1:02:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, GA – J'Lisia Ogburn made her senior night a memorable one, draining a career-high 22 points leading the Lady Eagles to a 77-73 Southern Conference win over Appalachian State (Feb. 27) in Hanner Fieldhouse. The win secured a first-round bye for Georgia Southern in the upcoming SoCon Tournament and completed a regular season record of 18-11 and 13-7 in league play. The win snapped a four-game win streak for ASU, as the Mountaineers fell to 18-11, 14-6.
Heading into tournament play, Georgia Southern has already tallied the most season wins since the 2002-03 season (20-10).
Entering the game winning 11 of its past 12 outings, ASU struggled from the floor with two Mountaineers fouling out, sending GS to the charity stripe 23 times where it connected on 22. The only missed free throw by a Lady Eagle occurred with 1:36 left to play in the game. Meanwhile, ASU hit 61 percent of its free throw attempts going 14-of-23 from the line.
Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) was the game's leading scorer at the break with 12 points, adding 10 in the second half to finish with 22 in the game. The senior went 8-of-10 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the free throw line while adding one block and one steal.
Three other Lady Eagles scored double-figures in the game with Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) adding 14 – with three '3s' - to Jessica Geiger's (Stone Mountain, Ga.) 12. Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) recorded her second double-digit performance of the month rounding out the game with 10 points, including two treys.
“The seniors had a great night tonight,” said Lady Eagle head coach Rusty Cram. “You look at J'Lisia's [Ogburn] 22 points and [Jessica] Geiger's 12 points, you couldn't ask for more. They did a good job of keeping Carolyn [Whitney] down, but she had seven assists which is remarkable. She wasn't able to get the buckets to fall tonight, so she distributed them and made sure other people got them.”
Ashlen Dewart led the Mountaineers with 21 points followed by Chakeitha Weldon with 19 and Sam Ramirez with 11.
Anna Freeman opened the contest draining a three-pointer right out of the gate as ASU took an early 8-3 lead. Navarro connected on her second basket beyond the arc in a minute-and-a-half stretch to bring the Eagles to within two points, 8-6, with 17:54 in the opening frame. Navarro's third trey in the opening five minutes gave GS its first lead of the contest, 9-8, before Dewart returned control to the Mountaineers with a pair of free throws.
ASU pulled its lead out to nine points with 10:21 remaining off a Canesha Edwards jumper before Ogburn sparked a 6-0 run in which the senior scored four points to cut the score to 22-19 at 8:23. The conference foes tossed two points back-and-forth before Williams nailed two consecutive three-pointers within 50 seconds giving Appalachian State a two-point advantage, 29-27, with 3:06 in the first half. Ogburn tied the contest for only the third time in the half with a jumper at 1:34, sparking another 6-0 run to close out the half with a 35-31 Lady Eagle advantage.
An immediate 7-0 Mountaineer run jumpstarted the second frame, returning the advantage to ASU, but Ogburn converted a fastbreak layup to knot the score at 39-apiece at the 16:42 mark. Appalachian State pulled in front by four points before Williams and Geiger set the score at 53-50 in favor of the home squad.
After the seventh tie of the contest, 56-56 with 8:10 remaining, Georgia Southern took the final lead with Ogburn at the free throw line. Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) converted for an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Lady Eagles out in front, 62-57. The lead was cut to one point, 64-63, with a Dewart layup, but GS responded with another 6-0 run to widen its lead back out to a seven-point advantage, 70-63, with 2:29 left to play.
But ASU went on a 7-1 scoring run over the next minute to make it a 71-70 ballgame with 1:36. Navarro hit two free throws before Ogburn nailed her final bucket of the contest and Geiger closed out the game with two free throws. Ramirez finalized the 77-73 tally with a three-pointer at eight seconds.
The win completed the regular season sweep of Appalachian State – a feat accomplished by only Georgia Southern and Chattanooga this season.
Georgia Southern will now await final seedings for the Southern Conference Tournament to take place March 4-8 in Charlotte, N.C.
“The team has found that pride factor right now and do not doubt themselves on the court,” stated Cram. “Instead, they're staying composed, limiting their mistakes and are consistently handling the business. They are playing hard and fighting back.
“They are taking over on the court and that is a wonderful thing for a coach.”
Heading into tournament play, Georgia Southern has already tallied the most season wins since the 2002-03 season (20-10).
Entering the game winning 11 of its past 12 outings, ASU struggled from the floor with two Mountaineers fouling out, sending GS to the charity stripe 23 times where it connected on 22. The only missed free throw by a Lady Eagle occurred with 1:36 left to play in the game. Meanwhile, ASU hit 61 percent of its free throw attempts going 14-of-23 from the line.
Ogburn (Dublin, Ga.) was the game's leading scorer at the break with 12 points, adding 10 in the second half to finish with 22 in the game. The senior went 8-of-10 from the floor and 6-of-6 at the free throw line while adding one block and one steal.
Three other Lady Eagles scored double-figures in the game with Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) adding 14 – with three '3s' - to Jessica Geiger's (Stone Mountain, Ga.) 12. Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) recorded her second double-digit performance of the month rounding out the game with 10 points, including two treys.
“The seniors had a great night tonight,” said Lady Eagle head coach Rusty Cram. “You look at J'Lisia's [Ogburn] 22 points and [Jessica] Geiger's 12 points, you couldn't ask for more. They did a good job of keeping Carolyn [Whitney] down, but she had seven assists which is remarkable. She wasn't able to get the buckets to fall tonight, so she distributed them and made sure other people got them.”
Ashlen Dewart led the Mountaineers with 21 points followed by Chakeitha Weldon with 19 and Sam Ramirez with 11.
Anna Freeman opened the contest draining a three-pointer right out of the gate as ASU took an early 8-3 lead. Navarro connected on her second basket beyond the arc in a minute-and-a-half stretch to bring the Eagles to within two points, 8-6, with 17:54 in the opening frame. Navarro's third trey in the opening five minutes gave GS its first lead of the contest, 9-8, before Dewart returned control to the Mountaineers with a pair of free throws.
ASU pulled its lead out to nine points with 10:21 remaining off a Canesha Edwards jumper before Ogburn sparked a 6-0 run in which the senior scored four points to cut the score to 22-19 at 8:23. The conference foes tossed two points back-and-forth before Williams nailed two consecutive three-pointers within 50 seconds giving Appalachian State a two-point advantage, 29-27, with 3:06 in the first half. Ogburn tied the contest for only the third time in the half with a jumper at 1:34, sparking another 6-0 run to close out the half with a 35-31 Lady Eagle advantage.
An immediate 7-0 Mountaineer run jumpstarted the second frame, returning the advantage to ASU, but Ogburn converted a fastbreak layup to knot the score at 39-apiece at the 16:42 mark. Appalachian State pulled in front by four points before Williams and Geiger set the score at 53-50 in favor of the home squad.
After the seventh tie of the contest, 56-56 with 8:10 remaining, Georgia Southern took the final lead with Ogburn at the free throw line. Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) converted for an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Lady Eagles out in front, 62-57. The lead was cut to one point, 64-63, with a Dewart layup, but GS responded with another 6-0 run to widen its lead back out to a seven-point advantage, 70-63, with 2:29 left to play.
But ASU went on a 7-1 scoring run over the next minute to make it a 71-70 ballgame with 1:36. Navarro hit two free throws before Ogburn nailed her final bucket of the contest and Geiger closed out the game with two free throws. Ramirez finalized the 77-73 tally with a three-pointer at eight seconds.
The win completed the regular season sweep of Appalachian State – a feat accomplished by only Georgia Southern and Chattanooga this season.
Georgia Southern will now await final seedings for the Southern Conference Tournament to take place March 4-8 in Charlotte, N.C.
“The team has found that pride factor right now and do not doubt themselves on the court,” stated Cram. “Instead, they're staying composed, limiting their mistakes and are consistently handling the business. They are playing hard and fighting back.
“They are taking over on the court and that is a wonderful thing for a coach.”
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