Lady Eagles Unable to Dig Out of First-Half Hole
1/31/2012 12:53:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - A 35-32 second-half advantage was not enough for the Georgia Southern Lady Eagles to dig out of a first-half hole. Three players scored in double figures, including Logan Morris who tallied 10 points in the first half, to lead the Wofford Terriers to a 70-55 Southern Conference victory.
Anna Claire Knight (Dublin, Ga.) got Georgia Southern (7-14, 3-9) off to a hot start and finished with a team-high 11 points. The Lady Eagles were unable to keep the early momentum and shot just 26.6% from the floor. GSU was limited by early foul trouble, which kept MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) off the court for over half of the contest, but went to the charity stripe 23 times.
Rachel Brittenham led Wofford (10-11, 3-9) with 17 points and hit three of the team's nine three pointers. The Terriers never let up after the scoring started and shot 49.1% from the floor. They made 14 field goals in both halves and connected on 53.8% of their attempts in the second half. Danielle Motley helped Wofford to an impressive 45-33 rebounding advantage with a game-high nine boards and 14 points.
"We had to play catch-up from the very beginning," said Head Coach Rusty Cram. "Before we knew it they were getting shots from everywhere - inside, outside and at the line. I mean you name it, they were doing it. It was just pretty tough."
Georgia Southern used the free throw line along with a strong bench, that provided nearly half of the team's points, to outscore Wofford in the second half. Jordi Cook (Tunnel Hill, Ga.) scored all seven of her points in the period. Aishya Wofford (Augusta, Ga.) led The Lady Eagles on the boards with seven rebounds and provided seven points off the bench.
"Aishya has been injured at times this season. She's been through several injuries and this is probably the longest stretch that she hasn't had an injury. She played hard tonight with a tremendous effort," stated Cram. "Jordi came in and gave us some good minutes but when you have to rely on freshmen and sophomores, it's hard to win."
Wofford erased an early Georgia Southern lead and jumped ahead 25-10 behind a 10-0 run in the middle of the first half. Knight drained a pair of jumpers inside of the free throw line to get the Lady Eagles off to a hot start, but Logan Morris sparked the Terriers' offense with eight points in less than two minutes. Wofford kept the hot shooting rolling, making 45.2% of their attempts to lead 38-20 at the break.
The Terriers took a 24-point lead early in the second half and despite threes from Cook and Lacie Dowling (Nahunta, Ga.) led 57-38 with less than 10 minutes to play. Knight ran off six-straight points to cut the lead to 15 points with 7:28 to play, but Rachel Brittenham immediately responded with a trey. Georgia Southern pulled within 13 on a three from Briana Scott (Dumfries, Va.) inside of the four minute mark. Wofford cut the lead to 11 points before the Terriers ended the game with a 4-0 run.
The Georgia Southern Lady Eagles return home Saturday for a 5 p.m. contest against Appalachian State. Note the new game time, as originally it was set for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
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