STATESBORO, Ga. – Marquita Daniels scored 33 points, including 25 in the second half, and South Alabama shot 73 percent in the final period to post an 80-63 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Patrice Butler matched her career high with 24 points to go along with nine rebounds for Georgia Southern (4-21, 1-15), and Anna Claire Knight tallied 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Daniels made 13-of-19 from the field for the game and 10-of-12, including all three of her 3-point tries, in the second frame. Breanna Hall hit 5-of-8 from downtown and scored 20 for South Alabama (5-21, 2-15).

Georgia Southern held the Jaguars to 29 percent shooting in the first half while building a 33-29 lead at the break, but South Alabama connected on 19-of-26 in the second half and scored 51 points.

"Thursday's game against Troy was an up-tempo, overtime game, and with the short turnaround between games, I think we felt the effects of it in the second half today," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "We were never able to get our legs under us, and we really had trouble with their action in the second half with Daniels and Hall coming off screens and making plays. We tried different defenses and we made adjustments within those defenses, but we just struggled to contain them and they obviously made a lot of plays for themselves and their teammates. But we have to find that extra gear to punch back, and we were unable to in the second half."

Trailing 33-29 at the break, South Alabama and more specifically, Daniels and Hall, outscored Georgia Southern 17-6 over the first 5:09 of the second frame to open a seven point lead. Butler cut the margin to 48-44 with a pair of free throws, but South Alabama pulled away with a 17-2 spurt, capped by a Hall triple, to build a 19-point cushion with 8:02 to go.  

Georgia Southern started the game 0-for-9 from the field but then hit nine of its next 12 shots, and a Butler 3-pointer from the top of the key gave the Eagles a 26-15 cushion with 6:26 left in the first half. Chyna Ellis made back-to-back layups as South Alabama scored the next seven points to trim the lead to four, and Georgia Southern held a 33-29 edge at halftime.

"I thought we had great looks to start the game but struggled to get our legs under us," said Vozab. "We started getting stop after stop, and we were able to get out in transition and get even better shots to get the double-digit lead. When they made a run, I thought we got a little tentative and weren't as aggressive."
    
The Eagles take to the road for a pair of league games next week. Georgia Southern will travel to Appalachian State Thursday and UL Lafayette Saturday.

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