STATESBORO, Ga. – Taylor Gault scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half and UALR pulled away from Georgia Southern for a 58-44 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Anna Claire Knight tallied 13 points and six rebounds, and Angel McGowan posted 12 points and four rebounds for Georgia Southern (4-15, 1-9). Briana Jones recorded six points and a career-high five blocked shots.

Gault also added six rebounds and two blocked shots for UALR (17-3, 10-1), and Shanity James chipped in 17 points and 10 rebounds.

McGowan and Jones scored consecutive layups to trim an 11-point deficit to seven with 7:28 remaining in the game. Georgia Southern had three possessions to trim the margin further but came up empty on all three. Gault scored a layup, and James netted four straight points to put UALR ahead 56-41 with 2:44 to go.

UALR led 26-23 at halftime and a layup by Kaitlyn Pratt pushed the lead to five points early in the second stanza. The Eagles matched the Trojans bucket for bucket until James scored a layup and Alexius Dawn added a jumper to make the score 46-35 with 9:44 left. 

"We executed our defensive game plan extremely well, and did a great job of communicating," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "We got some good looks offensively and didn't quite finish at the clip we would have liked, but I thought we stayed aggressive. I'm really proud of the fight we showed. Our effort and our fight were consistent for the whole 40 minutes."

Georgia Southern finished the contest 1-for-15 from 3-point range and shot 36 percent against the Sun Belt's best defensive team. The Eagles held UALR to 31 percent shooting in the first half, but the Trojans shot 52 percent in the second period.

"We've had a long stretch of close games that are mentally and physically taxing, and that can be especially difficult when you aren't getting the results you want, but we've taken steps forward in each game, and I think we took another step forward today," said Vozab.

The Eagles continue their five-game homestand against Georgia State next Thursday at 5 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse. It's a Whiteout, and fans are encouraged to wear white to support the Eagles.

All-session ticket books for this year's Sun Belt Conference Basketball Championships March 11-15, in New Orleans are available at the Georgia Southern ticket office. Call 1-800-GSU-WINS!

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.