STATESBORO, Ga. – Ashley Beverly Kelley scored 23 points, and Kristen Emerson collected 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead Troy to an 81-66 Sun Belt women's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Angel McGowan posted 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead Georgia Southern (4-9, 1-3), and Sierra Butler tallied a career-high 13 points to go along with seven rebounds. Patrice Butler chipped in 13 points, and Trellanie English-Lurry scored nine.

Beverly Kelley was 8 of 16 from the floor, 4 of 9 from 3-point range, added five assists and sat out the fourth quarter. Caitlyn Ramirez notched 11 points and six rebounds before leaving the game with an injury.

Troy (8-5, 3-1) logged 10 steals and forced 21 Georgia Southern turnovers in the game. The Trojans also outrebounded the Eagles 48-37, including 19-14 on the offensive glass.

THE STORY
The Eagles led 11-9 early after a layup in transition by Trellanie English-Lurry, but Troy responded with a 17-6 spurt, keyed by 11 points from Beverly Kelley. A pair of free throws by Kristen Emerson opened a 26-17 cushion for the Trojans with 1:28 left in the first. Leading 40-30, the Trojans closed the final 3:05 of the half with an 8-1 spurt, and Amanda Mendoza canned a triple from the top of the key with four seconds left to send the Trojans to the locker room with a 48-31 advantage. The Eagles turned the ball over five times during the stretch, including three straight possessions. The margin grew to 22 points, the largest of the game, on a Beverly Kelley jumper midway through third. The Eagles trimmed the lead to 15 points three times, and a McGowan 3-pointer from the wing off an offensive rebound cut it to 14 points with 2:53 to go. The Eagles could not cut the deficit further until Sierra Butler made a fast-break layup off a feed from McGowan that made the score 79-66 with 55 seconds left. 

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"I told our team after the game at Texas Arlington last week that until we learn to compete and go nose to nose with people, the Xs and Os really don't matter. I felt like we went nose to nose with them today, and I'm encouraged by that. I felt like we battled hard. They are a really good basketball team. They shoot it well, and they shoot it quick. They are as explosive a team as I have ever been involved guarding."

"We had some turnovers late in the first half that led directly to layups, and that hurt us. Against a team like that, you'd like to have a little more prep time because they do so many different things. Now that we've played them, we'll have a little better feel that will help our game plan against them the next time we play." 

"Our big thing was that we wanted to break the pressure and attack because they have the tendency to take you out of stuff, and I thought we did that for a while. Any time you face pressure, you have to attack, and I don't think we did that enough and made them pay enough for what they were trying to do to us up front. Hopefully, next time we'll do a better job with that."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern hosts UL Lafayette Thursday at 5 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse. It's a Blue Out, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. Fans will also have a chance to meet new Eagle football coach Tyson Summers at the game.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.