TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – For 35 minutes, the Georgia Southern women's basketball team did more than just hang around with undefeated Alabama, the Eagles gave the Crimson Tide all they could handle and even led the Tide with five minutes to go in the third quarter. The Eagles were aggressive on both offense and defense and it showed as Alabama had to rely on a late surge to claim a 66-48 win inside Coleman Coliseum.
Despite the final score being a double-digit difference, the game was much closer and competitive as the Eagles (2-3) came into the game on the SEC Network+ wanting to make a statement with a young team. They succeeded by making the Tide throw the ball away 13 times and forced Alabama to change up its normal game plan which features a fast pace and a lot of transition baskets. The Tide (4-0), also a young program without a single senior on the roster, was looking to maintain what has been an impressive start to their season where they averaged over 80 points per game through the first three games, including an 82-35 thumping of Lipscomb on Nov. 17.
On offense, the Eagles shot 39.2% (20-51) from the field, including matching 41.7% (5-12) efforts in the second and fourth quarters. Despite going up against five Crimson Tide players who stand over 6-0, the Eagles were able to work the ball down low for much of the night, doing the most damage under the basket as they connected on just four three-pointers in the 40-minute contest.
On the other side of the court, the Eagles held Alabama to 35.8% (24-67) from the field, including 11.1% (2-18) in the second quarter. For the second game in a row, the Eagles keyed in on a team's most lethal offensive player and held them to well below their season average. This time, it was freshman point guard Jordan Lewis who received a lot more attention from Georgia Southern as she entered the game leading the team with 14.7 and 7.3 rebounds points per game. Tuesday night, the Windermere, Fla., native scored just eight points, four late in the second half, and had just four rebounds in 34 minutes of work.
Georgia Southern was led by the tandem of senior
Patrice Butler and freshman
Amira Atwater, combining for 31 of the Eagles' points and three treys. Atwater, making just her second-career collegiate start, hit one of her two three-pointers just 45 seconds into the game and went on to hit her first four shots from the field. The freshman point guard didn't look like a freshman as she expertly ran the Eagles' offense and bobbed and weaved her way through Alabama defenders all night long. Despite being credited with just one steal, the 5-6 guard out of Douglasville, Ga., disrupted several Crimson Tide plays in the game and was part of an Eagle defense that forced the 13 turnovers by Alabama.
Butler, who led Georgia Southern in scoring for the 22
nd time in her illustrious career, went 8-for-12 (.667) from the field and also corralled in four rebounds while sister
Sierra Butler led the Eagles with nine boards to go along with six points.
Alabama benefitted from Ashley Williams and Hannah Cook combining for 36 points, including a double-double by Williams and five three-pointers from Cook. Williams tallied 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds while Cook hit on five of her 14 attempts from long range to end the game with 17 points. Meoshonti Knight was the third and final Crimson Tide player to score in double digits, ending her 36 minutes with 14 points.
THE STORY
Alabama won the opening tip and immediately rolled down the court to take an early 3-0 lead off a Lewis trey, but Atwater and the Eagles were prepared and had an answer just a few seconds later when the freshman point guard for Georgia Southern connected on her first three-pointer of the game just 45 seconds in.
Patrice Butler gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, a 6-4 advantage, with a trey less than two minutes into the contest.
From there, the Eagles played some of their best basketball under head coach
Kip Drown. Utilizing a stout two-three zone defense, the Eagles held the Tide to below 30% shooting for much of the game and took a one-point, 25-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. Georgia Southern held the Tide to just 2-for-18 (.111) from the field in the second quarter and 8-33 (.242) for the first half and forced nine first-half turnovers by the Tide.
The third quarter saw the two teams trade the lead back-and-forth nine times in the opening 4:30 of the second half before Alabama was able to secure the lead for good off one of Cook's three-pointers. Despite falling behind, the Eagles continued to apply excellent pressure on the Tide and took away Alabama's one-two-two half court press, forcing the Tide back into a two-three zone for the second half. Alabama wasn't able to take a double-digit lead until six and-a-half minutes into the fourth quarter, capitalizing on a couple late turnovers by Georgia Southern and several shots that just would not fall the way the Eagles wanted.
QUOTE FROM COACH KIP DROWN
On the overall feel of the game
"I'm really proud of our team. I thought we came out and got after them right from the start and we competed. Alabama is an outstanding group, we watched them on film and they are long and athletic and create a lot of pressure. But I thought our team handled it very well and if we make a few more shots where we had some good looks, then we have a different outcome. The final score was not indicative of the game at all. For the first 35 or 36 minutes, it was a two-possession game. We take a lot of positives from this tonight, and we're going to take them to the gym as we continue to work on getting better and get ready for IUPUI on Saturday."
On freshman Amira Atwater leading the team from the point
"I can't say enough good things about Amira. Coming in to tonight's game, talk was about the freshman guard from Alabama and she's an outstanding player, but I thought Amira more than held her own and played a great game. It bodes well for Eagle fans for the future because she's going to be a really nice player here."
On minimizing Jordan Lewis for Alabama
"She's a great penetrator and a great open court player. So, we were doing a couple things in transition in regards to dropping a couple double safeties and we really focused on keeping her in front of us. There was one time in the first half where we only got one player back and we fouled her and she got to the rim, but in the first half, especially, we did a great job of keeping her in front of us. The second half, we didn't do a bad job on her, we just let some other players get past us and we would have liked to have done better there. But for doing what we wanted to do with Lewis, I was really pleased with our efforts and I thought we did an outstanding job."
NOTES
- Georgia Southern is now 1-8 against Alabama all-time, including a 0-6 mark in Tuscaloosa.
- Freshman point guard
Amira Atwater earned her second-straight start of the year Tuesday night and had a career night with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.
- For the 22
nd time in her career and third time this season, senior forward/center
Patrice Butler led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points.
- The game against the Crimson Tide marked the third-consecutive game on the road for Georgia Southern.
- Head coach
Kip Drown is now 472-351 all-time and 8-25 at Georgia Southern.
NEXT UP
Georgia Southern women's basketball will close out the current stretch of four-consecutive road games on Saturday, Nov. 26 by traveling up to Indianapolis, Ind., for a game against Indianapolis University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The Eagles and Jaguars will tangle on the hardwood of the Jungle at 2 p.m. EST.
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