STATESBORO, Ga. – Patrice Butler tallied 20 points and seven rebounds, and Georgia Southern knocked down 11-of-22 from 3-point range to breeze to a 76-51 victory over Coastal Georgia in a women's basketball exhibition contest Tuesday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
 
Butler hit 8-of-11 from the floor and made all three of her 3-point tries for the Eagles. Trellanie English-Lurry contributed 16 points, four assists and two steals, while Sierra Kirkland and Alexis Sams each scored eight.
 
Ashanti Groover posted 15 points and nine rebounds for Coastal Georgia, and Kaci Palo scored 13.
 
THE STORY
After leading by eight points at halftime, Georgia Southern drilled seven 3-pointers and outscored Coastal Georgia 30-14 in the third period. English-Lurry hit five triples and scored 14 points in the frame and Sams nailed two from downtown. An English-Lurry three-ball from the wing as time expired made the score 64-40 heading into the fourth period. Groover was held scoreless in the second half after netting 15 on 7-of-9 shooting in the first two quarters.
 
Trailing 24-20 midway through the second period, the Eagles finished the frame with a 14-2 run to open a 34-26 cushion at halftime. Abby Hix started the spurt by hitting a step-back jumper to beat the shot clock, and Patrice Butler scored the next five before sister Sierra Butler nailed a triple from the top of the key. Georgia Southern nailed 8-of-10 from the field during the stretch.
 
QUOTABLE FROM COACH DROWN
On the flow of the game
"I thought we got some really good looks early, but we just didn't make the baskets. We really wanted to get some tempo going offensively and I thought that, after about the 10 minute mark, our tempo really got a lot better. As we got deeper into the game we were able to get the ball inside more. Patrice (Butler) had a big run for us there in the second quarter as we were able to get the ball into her when we began to pull away. When they made the adjustment, our team went out and started knocking down threes. They took the inside away and I felt like we made good adjustments on that."
 
On the defense
"I thought we had a stretch there in the middle of the game, especially in the second quarter when we made that run where I felt like we played with a little more intensity and were doing the things we came into the game wanting to do. I felt early on that we didn't quite have that, but we had some spans where defensively we were jumping and being very aggressive, especially with our on-ball screens."
 
On playing 12 players
"You never know who's able to go game-to-game. We're a little banged up coming into the season, but depth is just so important and any time you play a schedule like we do you need the bench, the depth to be there. You need players to be able to come in and give you quality minutes and because of that it was good to be able to get most everybody in tonight."
 
NEXT UP
The Eagles play their regular-season opener against Lipscomb Sunday, Nov. 15, in Hanner Fieldhouse. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.