DELAND, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman hit five-straight three-pointers to open the game and the Georgia Southern women's basketball team was unable to fully overcome the deficit as they ultimately fell 65-49 to the Wildcats, closing out their non-conference schedule 3-6.

Junior Patrice Butler earned all-tournament accolades for the Hatter Classic after leading the Eagles with 16 points off 6-for-11 shooting from the field in the game. She was 2-for-2 from three-point range and brought down five rebounds while Alexis Foulks came off the bench to score 13 points, including three treys, and bring down six boards.

Bethune-Cookman's (6-6) Kendra Cooper led all scorers with 31 points, going 8-for-14 from the field and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc en route to earning all-tournament honors. The speedy guard also hit nine of her 10 free throw attempts.

Georgia Southern shot 36.0% (18-50) from the field and was able to hold the Wildcats to just three made field goals in the fourth quarter, but BCU went to the charity stripe 20 times in the stanza, making 14. The Wildcats ended the game hitting 16 of the 26 attempts (61.5%).

THE STORY
The Wildcats controlled the pace of the game from the opening tip as Cooper converted four of BCU's five opening drives with three-pointers.

It didn't get any easier for the Eagles as the game wore on despite spurts where the Eagles were able to close the gap a little. Bethune-Cookman relied heavily on Cooper's ability to knock down the three as well as drive the lane for much of the game, extending their lead out to as many as 16 in the third quarter.

But the third quarter was also when Georgia Southern managed to find some rhythm and momentum, closing to within single digits several times as the Wildcats began missing shots and turning the ball over.

Despite closing the gap, the Eagles were ultimately unable to finish down the stretch as Cooper and Taylor Houston combined forces to score all 20 of the Wildcats' fourth quarter points, 14 coming from free throws.

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"It was a disappointing loss," said head coach Kip Drown. "We just have to get better both defensively and offensively. I thought our tempo got a little better there in the second half and gave us some confidence but we still need to continue to work on that and get better at that.

"When you get down you have to start making stops and cannot be trading baskets. We kind of got in that situation yesterday and today. With about six minutes to go the game seemed to be up for grabs despite the score because neither team had made a basket for a while. We just couldn't get any kind of continual run going where we cut the deficit down from 11 to seven and down to five and so on. It was really good to see some players come off the bench and make some shots like Alexis Foulks and that will hopefully get others going. We just have to keep working and keep getting better every day."

NEXT UP
The Eagles will take the next four days off to spend the holidays with their families before returning to work on the 26^th. Georgia Southern will then open Sun Belt Conference play with a two-game road swing through Texas. The Eagles will first take on Texas State on Wednesday, Dec. 30 before heading to UT-Arlington for a game on Saturday, Jan. 2.

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