STATESBORO, Ga. - Led by a gutsy performance from junior Angel McGowan, the Georgia Southern women's basketball team continued its winning ways by gutting out a 60-56 overtime win over Jacksonville State Friday evening inside Hanner Fieldhouse. The win was the second in a row for the Eagles and first-year head coach Kip Drown and is the first time the program has recorded back-to-back wins since the 2013-14 season.

McGowan had a season-high 26 points, the sixth 20-point game of her career, to pace the Eagle offense, while Patrice Butler added 11 points to go along with four rebounds. McGowan's 26 points were just two shy of her career high of 28 set against Lipscomb last season and she ended the night with a career-high 41 minutes in the 45-minute affair.

Senior Briana Jones finished with six points and seven rebounds for GS and also added another block to her ledger while Sierra Butler, Sierra Kirkland and Alexis Sams all had six rebounds for the Eagles. Jones now has 70 career blocks.

For JSU (2-6), Chloe Long led the way with 18 points off a 6-11 performance while Rayven Pearson had nine points and corralled in a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Story
The Eagles (2-3) jumped out to an early 9-0 lead on the Gamecocks as Kirkland, P. Butler, Jones and McGowan all recorded field goals. The Gamecocks were able to cut the lead to four, but GS stretched the lead back to six by the end of the first quarter, leading 15-9. The Eagles were led in the stanza by McGowan, who had five points and an assist as the team shot 42.9 percent from the field while holding the Gamecocks to just 25 percent shooting in the frame.

The second quarter belonged to the Gamecocks as they clawed their way back into the game. Once down nine points, JSU finally took its first lead of the game with 1:51 left in the half on a three-pointer by Briana Benson.  The Eagles missed their first four shots of the quarter before going on a 6-0 run to strengthen their lead, but from there, they finished the quarter 1 for 7 from the field as the Gamecocks finished on an 11-3 run to take a 25-24 lead into the locker room.

The Eagles came out of the break on fire, hitting three 3-pointers and two free throws as part of an 11-2 run to take a 32-25 lead in the opening minutes, but once again, Jacksonville State battled back, converting a pair of three-point plays and some free throws to tie the game back up at 37-37 with exactly one minute left in the third period.

Headed to the fourth quarter tied at 39-all, the Eagles opened up a four-point lead on a pair of free throws from P. Butler and a layup by McGowan before extending that lead to five early in the period. Jacksonville State, which had only seven players suited up, ran into trouble with 3:55 when leading scorer Long picked up her fourth foul after missing a pair of layups and was disqaulified when she was given a technical foul for slamming the ball.

The scrappy Gamecocks kept chipping away and took advantage of GS's 2-for-10 shooting from the field for the quarter up to that point and took the lead back with 56 seconds left on a three-point play from Courtney Strain. Trailing by two with nine seconds left, the Eagles called a timeout to advance the ball after a missed free throw. Out of the timeout, McGowan drove to the basket and dished the ball to Jones who made short jumper in the paint to tie it up with just over a second left in regulation. The Gamecocks weren't able to get a shot off before time expired and the game went to overtime.

To start overtime, Abby Hix hit a step-back 3-pointer on Georgia Southern's first possession, but JSU's Benson eventually gave the Gamecocks the lead back with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds remaining but a McGowan running leaner in the lane gave GS the lead with 10 seconds left. Jacksonville State threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds play and Hix scooped it up and was immediately fouled. She hit one of two free throws after the quick foul. On the very next play, Sams drew an offensive foul as JSU drove for the tie and then McGowan iced the game with a pair of free throws with three seconds left.

Quotables from Coach Drown
"Tonight was a big win because one of the things I felt this team needed to be able to do was finish games. (The players) have talked about the number of games they were in control of at times last season but couldn't finish the job. So, to come out here tonight and to finish, make big plays at the end, I think it shows how much this team is improving, growing and maturing," said Drown following his squad's second win in a row. "It wasn't just the offensive stuff, we did everything right coming down the stretch, I felt.

"We're just playing with more confidence and energy right now. We're all just staying positive and correcting mistakes but we (the coaches) believe in the players and I think they know that and are starting to believe in themselves more. When you're trying to build confidence, stepping up and hitting shots, like Angel and Abby did there to start the second half, really helps.

"Heading into this break we're just continuing to preach the same message and that is 'Let's get better tomorrow.' We are looking to keep taking baby steps and all of a sudden those baby steps become bigger steps. John Wooden is one of my all-time favorite coaches and he was a big fan of saying how little things make all the difference and so we just want to keep getting better at the little things moving forward."

Next Up
The Eagles will take a break for exams for 10 days before returning to action on Monday, Dec. 14 for a home game with Charleston Southern.

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