STATESBORO, Ga. – Patrice Butler tallied a career-high 25 points and added eight rebounds to lead Georgia Southern women's basketball to a 64-51 victory over Charleston Southern Monday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Butler was 10-of-18 from the floor, 2-of-3 from three-point range and made all three free throws. Angel McGowan contributed 17 points, five steals and four rebounds for the Eagles (3-3), who won their third consecutive contest. It is the first time the Eagles have won three in-a-row since the 2011-12 season when Rusty Cram's squad defeated Jacksonville, Southern Wesleyan and Wofford in consecutive games.

Alyssa Mann scored 14 points for Charleston Southern (5-4), which lost its 27^th-straight contest on the road including all four losses this season. Nayla Long added 10 points.

Georgia Southern held the Bucs to 33 percent from the floor, and Charleston Southern made just 6-of-11 from the charity stripe. The Eagles shot 45 percent from the field and made 16-of-18 from the free-throw line.

THE STORY
Georgia Southern used a 15-6 run in the second quarter to take control of the game. Butler scored seven points during the stretch, Jessica Marcus added a pair of layups and McGowan capped the run with a conventional three-point play. The Eagles outscored Charleston Southern 18-9 in the period to open a 32-19 lead at halftime.

Charleston Southern opened the second half with a 10-2 run to cut the margin to five points, but a 10-0 Georgia Southern run put the lead back to 13 points. The Buccaneers whittled the margin down to six points midway through the fourth, but that was as close as the Bucs would get. Butler scored six points in a 9-2 spurt that gave the Eagles a 59-44 cushion, their largest of the game, with 2:11 remaining.

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"There were some things in the second half that we have to clean up. But at the same time, as you become a good basketball team you find ways to win on nights when you don't play quite your best and I felt like we did that tonight in the second half," said Coach Kip Drown following the win, his third with the program. "We held our composure and when we really needed a basket we were able to get the ball down to Patrice two or three times late; (Alexis) Sams stepped up and knocked down a big three for us when they collapsed down on Patrice. We're growing and getting better and I think the (players') confidence is getting better, as well.

"I think it may be a good sign that (our team) is expecting to play a little bit better (than they did in the second half) and they were a little disappointed following the game, I think, in the way we played at the end. But we still came away with the win and I am proud of that."

Looking ahead to Thursday's Field Trip Day game against Robert Morris - "I think (Thursday) should be a fun environment. It's going to be Field Trip Day and we're going to have 1,000 or so (elementary and middle schoolers) in here. You ask any middle school teacher what 1,000 middle schoolers sounds like and they're going to tell you it's going to be noisy. I'm excited about it and I think it will be a good environment and will be fun."

NEXT UP
The Eagles take on Robert Morris on Field Trip Day in Hanner Fieldhouse Thursday, Dec. 17. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m., and over 1,100 local elementary and middle school children will be at the game.

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.