ATLANTA – Angel McGowan scored 25 points, and Georgia Southern canned 12 3-pointers and shot 52 percent from the field to earn an 82-74 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over Georgia State Saturday afternoon in the Georgia State Sports Arena.

McGowan made 10-of-12 shots from the floor and nailed all four of her 3-point tries. Patrice Butler made 5-of-7 from long distance and 8-of-12 from the floor to score 21 points, and Anna Claire Knight, playing in her final contest, tallied 19 points and nine rebounds. Sierra Kirkland finished with a career-high six assists and eight rebounds, while Alexis Sams scored eight points.

A 3-pointer by Butler gave the Eagles a 73-51 cushion with 5:39 to go in the contest, but Georgia State made seven straight shots on the offensive end as part of a 19-4 run that cut the lead to 77-70 with 1:13 to play. Butler turned it over trying to break the press, but the Panthers could not convert on the other end and were forced to start fouling with 48 seconds remaining.  

The Eagles canned 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and got a fast-break layup by Briana Jones after beating the press to seal the win.

Gaby Moss led Georgia State (13-16, 8-12) with 17 points, and Brittany Logan recorded 14 points and seven rebounds. Kennesha Nichols and Alisha Andrews each scored 12 points with Andrews adding eight assists, six steals and five rebounds.

The Eagles (5-24, 2-18) made 10 of their first 15 shots of the game, including eight of their first 10 3-point tries. Georgia Southern used a 20-6 run to open a 32-14 lead on a Butler 3-pointer with 6:10 left in the first period. The margin grew to 22 points on a Sams 3-pointer with 3:56 remaining, and the Eagles went into the locker room with a 41-25 cushion.

"Angel and Anna Claire were aggressive from the start of the game and the rest of the team fed off of that," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "They were playing off Angel a little bit, going under screens, because they were worried about her driving to the basket, and she opened things up by hitting those 3s. That carried over to the defensive end. To hold Georgia State to 29 percent shooting in the first half was great job by our kids."

The Eagles shot 56 percent in the second frame and 57 percent from 3-point range in the contest. A 10-of-20 performance from the free-throw line helped keep the Panthers in the game. Georgia Southern returns four starters and 13 letterwinners to next year's squad. 

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