Lady Eagles Undone by Furman's Free-Throw Shooting
12/6/2011 3:13:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Behind 19 points by Teshia Griswold, the Furman Paladins defeated the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles 66-60 at Hanner Fieldhouse on Monday night. In a near repeat of last season's two meetings, Furman won their third-straight game in the series and spoiled the Lady Eagles Southern Conference home opener on ESPN3 after shooting 77.3% from the charity stripe.
Georgia Southern (2-6, 0-2) shot 42.4% from the field, their second best percentage of the season, and made 25 field goals in an improved offensive performance. Despite notching three less field goals and shooting below 40%, the Paladins won in a similar way to a year ago due to 17 made free throws in 22 attempts.
"Free throws were huge. We knew that coming in. That was what they did to us last year," said Head Coach Rusty Cram. "They are a good ball team. They got to the rim, and we did not. That was the difference in the ballgame. I thought tonight we got better, but we just made mental mistakes at the wrong time."
Teshia Griswold tallied eight of Furman's (5-2, 2-0) 17 made free throws and finished the night with a season-high 19 points. Joining the junior college transfer in double figures, Kaitlin Murphy scored 18 points in 40 minutes of action.
MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) bounced back from a season-low two points at Appalachian State to lead GSU with a season-best 18 points on four-for-four shooting from behind the arc. Janay Wilson (Warner Robins, Ga.) tallied 11 points after visiting the free line successfully three times.
"We challenged her all week," said Cram about DuBose's performance. "We just have to get two or three of them a night doing that and that is what we are lacking right now."
Georgia Southern led only once in the first half, 4-3, just two minutes into the contest and trailed by four points at the halftime break. They quickly erased the deficit, less than a minute into the second half, on a pair of layups by Wilson and Tashayla Steede (Marietta, Ga.). However, Furman reeled off six unanswered points to retake a six point lead, 40-34 with 13:31 to play.
After the Lady Eagles tied the contest at 49-49 with just under eight minutes to play, the Paladins led by five points after a 9-4 run. GSU pulled within one point, 58-57, with under two minutes remaining in the contest on a Wilson jumper. However, Furman closed out the contest with an 8-3 run over the final 1:41 to secure their second Southern Conference win of the season.
Fans can follow their Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com or receive short updates at facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics or on Google+ at gplus.to/GSAthletics.
