Women's Basketball Heads to Chattanooga Monday
2/13/2012 6:22:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After a loss to Samford on Saturday, it does not get any easier for the The Georgia Southern Lady Eagles, who face third-place Chattanooga Monday at 7 p.m. The Lady Mocs are undefeated at home in McKenzie Arena and have dropped only three Southern Conference games this season.
"The crowd is so tough to play there, and it's just a tough place to play," stated Head Coach Rusty Cram. "Wes has done a great job with them. They have such good shooters on the perimeter, and they make you play the post as well. They force you to make a decision on doubling up the post and giving up outside shots or let the post work one-on-one."
Georgia Southern (7-17, 3-12) hopes to carry over a strong finish from the earlier meeting in Statesboro and looks to snap their five game losing streak. Scoring Leaders Meredyth Frye (Fredricksburg, Va.) and MiMi DuBose (Jefferson, Ga.) will need to help the Lady Eagles avoid a scoring drought that put them in a 14-point hole in the first half back in January. Frye continues to lead the team in points and rebounds, while DuBose has the edge in conference play with 9.7 points per game.
"Coming into the first game I thought we had a shot at them, but they were just too good inside," said Cram. "We did not score with them in the first half. In the second half we found a couple of wrinkles that were successful and were able to make a run at them."
Chattanooga (17-7, 12-3) led by as many as 19 points in the first meeting but had to hold on for a 66-60 win after Georgia Southern outscored them in the second half. The Lady Mocs rebounded from a loss to Furman with a 57-31 win over College of Charleston at home on Saturday. Whitney Hood leads the team with 12.8 points per game and shoots over 50% from the field.
GSU is coming off a 67-41 loss to Samford in which they went cold for over 10 minutes in the first half. The Lady Eagles shot under 30% for the game and were an uncharacteristic 17.4% from behind the arc. The bench provided 18 points, including nine from Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) and seven from Anna Claire Knight (Dublin, Ga.).
Chattanooga leads the all-time series with a 30-17 advantage. The two teams split last season's two meetings with the home team proving victorious in both. Georgia Southern snapped a four game losing skid in the series with a 77-69 overtime victory at Hanner Fieldhouse.
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