Women's Basketball | 12/13/2015 11:00:00 AM

Georgia Southern (2-3) vs. Charleston Southern (5-3)
Monday, Dec. 14 – Hanner Fieldhouse (4,358) – 7:00 p.m.
Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Season Promotions | Game Day Guide
Audio: 91.9 FM the Buzz, GS All-Access (Colin Lacy, play-by-play)
Series: GSU leads 12-1
Last meeting: W, 87-52 (11/26/2002) in Statesboro

Probable Starters for Georgia Southern:
#2 Trellanie English-Lurry, G
#12 Abby Hix, G
#20 Sierra Kirkland, F
#23 Alexis Sams, G
#35 Patrice Butler, F

Georgia Southern Information:
[Roster] [Schedule] [Season Stats] [@GSAthletics_WBB] [Game Notes (PDF)]

Charleston Southern Information:
[Roster] [Schedule] [Season Stats] [@CSUSports]
 
GAME PROMOTIONS
• Fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to Monday night's game to donate to Toys for Tots. There will be collection bins at the game as well as Thursday's game against Robert Morris.
• Thursday's game (11 a.m. tip against Robert Morris) is being dubbed "Field Trip Day" with over 1,000 elementary and middle schoolers from around Statesboro coming to the game.

LAYUP LINE
• The Eagles are coming off a stretch of three-straight road games at Mercer, Georgia and Savannah State where they went 1-2.
• GS began a three-game home stand with a 60-56 overtime win over Jacksonville State on Friday, Dec. 4. The Eagles have just two more home games left, including the game against the Buccaneers, in the 2015 portion of their 2015-16 season and will close out 2015 and open 2016 on the road as they start conference play.
• Georgia Southern picked up the first win of the season, and the first Division 1 win for head coach Kip Drown, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 with a 64-48 road win at Savannah State.
• In the win over Savannah State senior forward/center Briana Jones recorded three blocks, giving her 69 for her career. That number is good enough to give her sole possession of fourth all-time in program history, surpassing Marysue James (1991-96) for the honor. The next closest mark for Jones to hit is third held by Trina Roberts (1980-84) with 79. Second is 97 career blocks held by Stephanie Christmas (1989-93).
• Redshirt junior Alexis Sams and senior Sierra Kirkland are the only two players who have started all five games so far this season. Nine total players have played in all five games including Sams, Kirkland, Patrice Butler, Sierra Butler, Trellanie English-Lurry, Abby Hix, Briana Jones and freshman Rhein Beamon.
• After earning her first career start against Savannah State, sophomore guard Abby Hix has now started the last two games for the Eagles.
 
QUICK HITTERS
• After picking up the first win of the season on the road at Savannah State, the Eagles secured another first for head coach Kip Drown - his first back-to-back wins at the helm of the program. It was the first time since the 2013-14 season that GS has won consecutive games.
• Despite missing the first game of the season due to an injury in the pre-season, junior guard Angel McGowan leads the team in points (57), points per game (14.3), field goals made (20), field goals attempted (50), free throws made (12) and free throws attempted (16).
• Patrice Butler has had a strong start to her season, averaging 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, including securing the Eagles' only double-double of the season in the win at Savannah State with 17 points and 10 boards.
• In the last two games the Eagles have scored at least 60 points, bringing their season average up to 51.4 while allowing opponents to score 61.4. If you take out the Georgia game, when the Eagles struggled to contain the SEC Bulldogs and had little answer for a stifling defense, the Eagles have held opponents to 58.0 points and have averaged 57.3 points per game.
• The Eagles have been good at defending the three-ball as they have held their opposition to a 26.9% shooting percentage from outside the arc.
 
THE HISTORY WITH THE BUCS
• Charleston Southern was originally founded as Baptist College in 1964. It was renamed Charleston Southern in 1991.
• Georgia Southern has dominated the all-time series with Charleston Southern, boasting a 12-1 all-time record including a perfect 9-0 record in Statesboro.
• This will be the first meeting between the two programs since the 2002-03 season and the 14th meeting overall.
• GS won the last meeting 87-52 on Nov. 26, 2002 in Statesboro but Charleston Southern won the previous meeting 86-61 in Charleston on Dec. 1, 2001.
 
SCOUTING CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
• Charleston Southern won four of their first five games to start the season, but has since dropped two of three.
• The Buccaneers most recently dropped a 51-40 game at Liberty after opening Big South play the game prior at home against Winthrop.
• Charleston Southern is 0-3 on the road so far this season with losses at Clemson (43-36), at the College of Charleston (81-66) and at Liberty (51-40).
• The game in Statesboro will be the second of three-straight road games for the Bucs, their longest road swing of 2015-16. They will wrap up the three away games in a row with a game at the University of Virginia on Friday, Dec. 18.
• As a team, the Buccaneers are shooting 34.5% from the field and averaging 59.9 points per contest while holding their opponents to 33.9% shooting and 55.0 points per outing.
• Seven different players have appeared in all eight games for Charleston Southern with Monique Maximilien and Nayla Long being the only two to start every game. Three other players have appeared in at least seven games and with Brianna Lakes and Alyssa Mann having started all of those seven games.
• CSU is led this season by Alyssa Mann's 16.7 points and 31.0 minutes per game. The junior guard has started all seven of the Buc's eight games she has appeared in, missing the Nov. 24th game at home against Columbia International. She boasts a .351 (39-111) field goal percentage and is second on the team with 11 three-pointers.
• Under the basket, the Bucs are led by Monique Maximilien's 8.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
 
WEEKLY HONORS FOR MCGOWAN
• Angel McGowan was named the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Week by the conference office as well as by College Sports Madness.
• A junior from Greenville, S.C., McGowan led the Georgia Southern women's basketball team to the program's first pair of wins of the season with 45 total points (22.5 per game average), seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in 70 total minutes of work. Between the two contests, she went 15-27 (.556) from the field, including 4-9 (.444) from three-point range, and also went 11-14 (.786) from the free throw line.
• In Georgia Southern's 64-48 road win over Savannah State on Wednesday, Dec. 2, McGowan netted 19 points off a 7-11 (.636) shooting performance from the field and made two of her three three-point attempts. She corralled in three boards and had a steal and two assists in 29 minutes of work.
• McGowan finished off her strong week with the sixth 20-point performance of her career in leading the Eagles to their first back-to-back wins since the 2013-14 season as GSU held off Jacksonville State 60-56 in overtime on Friday, Dec. 4. In that game, she finished with a season-high 26 points (two shy of her career high of 28) off an 8-16 (.500) performance, including two treys. She also went 8-for-9 (.889) from the charity stripe and played 41 total minutes while also recording four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
 
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FUTURE
• Georgia Southern head women's basketball coach Kip Drown recently signed three prep student-athletes to their National Letters of Intent (NLI) for the 2016-17 basketball season during the early signing period. Drown and staff added Amira Atwater from Douglasville County High School (Douglasville, GA), Nakol Franks from Wren High School in Easley, S.C. and Victoria Stavropoulos out of Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill.
 
SEASON TICKETS
• Season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at GSEagles.com/tickets. Season ticket options are available for both general admission and reserved seating. Fans can enjoy chair-back seats in the reserved sections for $90 a season ticket for either men's or women's basketball. Alternatively, general admission season tickets are $65 and are located behind the baskets on bleachers. A combo package is also available for $120 and includes both men's and women's basketball contests.

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.