LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Georgia Southern women's basketball team saw its two-game road winning streak come to an end Thursday night inside the Jack Stephens Center as the University of Arkansas at Little Rock used a stifling defense and hot shooting to defeat the Eagles 69-36 in a Sun Belt Conference game.

Angel McGowan led the Eagles (6-12, 3-6 SBC) with 14 points, just shy of her season average of 15.1. McGowan went 5-for-9 (.556) from the field including two three-pointers and added a pair of assists and a steal in her 32 minutes of work.

Behind the junior from Greenville, S.C., fellow juniors Alexis Sams and Patrice Butler each finished the game with six points. Sams' six came off a pair of treys while Butler's came off three shots in the paint. Butler also added a team-high five rebounds.

As a team, the Eagles shot 38.2% (13-34) from the field. Part of that was because of the stifling defense run by the Trojans which they coupled with an offense that shot 52.8% (28-53) from the field for the game, including 60.9% (14-23) in the first half.

Leading the way for Little Rock (7-11, 5-4) was Shanity James who finished with a game-high 16 points, most of which came down low from under the basket. James went 7-for-10 (70.0%) from the field and brought down a game-high seven rebounds. The Trojans out-rebounded the Eagles 36-16.

THE STORY
Georgia Southern jumped out to an early lead, going up by as many as four, 6-2, in the first quarter, but the Trojans closed out the first quarter on a 6-0 run to lead 13-8 after one quarter of play. They continued that trend into the second quarter with a quick layup and ended the first half leading 31-15.

The second half saw much of the same as the Eagles struggled to contain the Trojans on defense as Little Rock stretched the lead out to 27, 50-23 by the end of the third quarter before settling for the final 33-point, 69-36 victory.

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"I thought we got a little better the second half with our movement on the offensive side, but we just got really stagnant early on," said head coach Kip Drown. "They are just too aggressive for us to start the game off that way and they just took us out of a lot of possessions. We just have to continue to try to play at a higher tempo from start to finish and we have to come back and do a better job with offensive movement."

On the challenge presented by Arkansas State on Saturday
"We have to do a lot of the little things right and have to mentally prepare for (Arkansas State) because we will have played three games this week," Drown stated. "Saturday will require us to play very well and be mentally tough. We have to continue to get better all-around including playing at a higher tempo."

NEXT UP
The Eagles will wrap up their current four-game road swing on Saturday with a game at Arkansas State. The two program will tangle on the hardwood in Jonesboro, Ark. at 4:05 p.m. Eastern standard time. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.


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