Box Score STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women's basketball team opened the season and the Kip Drown era Sunday at home against Lipscomb. Despite a furious second half effort that saw the Eagle women close the gap to within a single point in the third quarter, Lipscomb proved to be just too much for the young squad as they ultimately defeated the Eagles 66-55.

Despite facing a double-digit deficit for much of the game, the Eagles (0-1) played to the final buzzer as displayed when sophomore Abby Hix hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to set the final score at 66-55. Redshirt junior guard Alexis Sams finished the game with a team-high 15 points that included a game-high five three-pointers in 38 minutes of work.

Patrice Butler came off the bench to score eight points and corralled in a game-high seven boards, three off the offensive glass and four on the defensive side of the ball, while Trellanie English-Lurry finished the 40-minute period with seven points and six assists.

For the Bison (1-1), Ashley Southern followed up a double-double effort in Lipscomb's season-opener on Friday with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds. Southern ended the game 10-16 from the floor.

The Story
The Eagles got off to a slow start in the first quarter, falling behind 17-9 early, but they picked it up from there. The young squad, which features seven sophomores and two freshmen, was able to keep the second quarter close and even out-scored the Bison 16-14 in the third when Sams pulled Georgia Southern to within the one point mentioned.

But the Bison, powered by Southern, Kelli Smith and Loren Cagle, proved to be too much down the stretch even though the Eagles were able to close to within the one point with 1:56 left in the third quarter.

In the span of just under two minutes in the thrid, Sams hit a pair of critical three-pointers to pull the Eagles to a score of 38-37. However, Southern hit her next open look to extend the lead back out to three and Smith drained a three-ball off of a Georgia Southern turnover. She then cleaned up a missed three-pointer by Southern to give the Bison a seven-point run to end the quarter.

Quotables from Coach Drown
"I thought the key to the game was when we got the score down to just a point there in the third," said Drown. "We had the crowd into it and momentum was starting to go our way but we went down and gave up offensive rebounds on back-to-back plays to perimeter players. And they were able to convert the put-backs and I thought that might have been the real turning point for the game.

"I was pleased with the second half with the tempo we were able to start getting offensively, I thought our shot selection got much better," Drown stated. "It was a really tough opener for us from the stand point that they play a match-up zone which is something we most likely won't see except for once or twice all year, if at all. I really thought there in the second half we started to do the things that we went into the game looking to do for this game. I was very pleased that we played all the way to the buzzer and played hard. I told the team during one of the timeouts that is what we're trying to establish. We are going to play 40 minutes.

"We tell our players all the time, great teams do all the little things right," continued Drown. "It's the little things you have to do and we have to just go back and work hard this week. This group has been very coachable since I arrived and I know that they are going to come in to practice tomorrow and they are going to come ready to work. We're going to work and try to get better because it is a process we're going through."

Next Up
The Eagles have the rest of the week to prepare as they travel to in-state rival Mercer on Friday. The Eagles and Bears will tip off in Macon at 7 p.m.

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, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.