ATHENS, Ga. – Merritt Hempe tallied 17 points and eight rebounds, and No. 22 Georgia scored 39 points off turnovers to defeat Georgia Southern 93-52 in women's basketball action Tuesday night in Stegeman Coliseum.

Patrice Butler led the Eagles (1-3) with 13 points and knocked down 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Anna Claire Knight scored 12 points, and Angel McGowan collected seven points and matched her career high with five rebounds. It was the Eagles' 15th straight loss to a ranked opponent, dating back to the 2000-01 season.

Shacobia Barbee recorded 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists after hitting 8-of-11 from the floor, and Erika Ford chipped in 15 points for the Lady Bulldogs (5-0). Tiara Griffin hit 4-of-8 from 3-point range and scored 14 points.

The Eagles hung in for a majority of the first half, and a 3-pointer from the wing by McGowan made the score 32-22 with 4:31 to go. The Lady Bulldogs responded by finishing the frame with a 16-0 run, sparked by four points each by Hempe and Barbee, and led 48-22 at the break. Turnovers were the Eagles' undoing, and Georgia Southern committed seven of its 15 first-half miscues during that stretch. The Eagles wound up with 32 turnovers on the night.

"There were stretches of the game where we executed our game plan really well, but unfortunately, there were a few crucial stretches where we were not able to execute," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "I was disappointed with the way we ended the first half. I thought we battled back and put ourselves in good position going into that final media timeout. We knew their pressure was going to be an issue, but when we executed our press break at the beginning of the game, we didn't have turnovers and got into our offense reasonably well."

Georgia Southern shot 39 percent for the game and hit a season-high 11 3-pointers. Alexis Foulks, Trellanie English-Lurry and Knight each canned two from long distance.

"With a young team, we talk constantly about the attention to detail and executing, and I think tonight we saw examples of when we executed what we were trying to do, it looked pretty good and we were able to get decent shots against a really good team," said Vozab. "Whenever we strayed from that, they took advantage."

Georgia Southern returns home to take on Toccoa Falls Saturday Nov. 29, with tipoff set for noon. It's a doubleheader with the Eagle men's team, and fans can watch the action at Hanner Fieldhouse for just $5 by presenting their football ticket to the Georgia Southern vs. ULM game at the door.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, call 1-800-GSU-WINS or visit GSEagles.com.