Lady Eagles Fall to Furman in Regular-Season Finale
2/27/2011 1:26:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Basketball team (12-17, 9-11) fell to Furman (14-15, 10-10) in the regular-season finale at Hanner Fieldhouse Saturday, February 26th. Kelly O'Connor drained six threes and led all scorers with 22 points as the Paladins took the season series with a 54-47 decision. Meredyth Frye (Fredericksburg, Va.) led the Lady Eagles with 14 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor.
Jamie Navarro (Naples, Fla.) scored nine points and pulled down three rebounds on senior night. Navarro, Logan Youngblood (Sylvester, Ga.) and Krista Tate (Atlanta, Ga.) were all honored before the game as a part of the senior day festivities.
A 9-2 run over the final 2:41 sealed the win for Furman. Kaitlin Murphy hit four free throws to push the lead out to final advantage of seven points. Frye, who hit her sixth field goal of the contest, tied the game for the seventh time with just three minutes remaining. Kelly O'Connor scored back-to-back baskets to put Furman back on top by five, 50-45, with 2:13 remaining.
Georgia Southern held a lead for most of the first half and was ahead by one point, 23-22, with just 1:30 to play. Murphy, who hit a jumper with 49 seconds to go, sent Furman into the halftime break with a 24-23 advantage. The two teams exchanged the lead eight times in the first half and were tied six on more occasions.
Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) led the Lady Eagles with seven points, while the Paladins' O'Connor was the top scorer in the first period with eight points. Navarro and Frye added six points each. MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) saw her first action in nine-games and made a pair of free throws in the first half.
After Furman scored the first basket of the game, Georgia Southern responded with six unanswered points to take a 6-2 lead on a three by Navarro. The Lady Eagles were unable to extend the lead past four points. The Paladins continued to battle and erased a four-point advantage twice. Furman posted its own lead of three points, 13-10, with 12:13 to go, but it was quickly negated by a Williams trey.
Frye nailed a jumper right out of the halftime break to take back the lead for Georgia Southern, but a 12-4 Furman run over the next seven minutes gave the Paladins a seven-point advantage, 36-29. Tate capped off a 9-4 Lady Eagle run with a three-pointer to bring GSU within two points, 40-38.
Georgia Southern will return to action next Thursday at the SoCon Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Eagles will play the first game of the day at 1:00 p.m. in the seven vs. 10 seed play-in game. GSU will face Western Carolina with the winner advancing to play Samford at 9 a.m. on March 4th.
Fans may follow Georgia Southern Women's Basketball by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/ladyeagles or check in at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics for short updates.
