STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern women's basketball team closed out the 2016 calendar year with a 58-54 loss to in-state rival Georgia State Saturday morning inside Hanner Fieldhouse in both team's Sun Belt opener.

Georgia Southern led at the break, 32-21, but the Panthers (5-7, 1-0 SBC) shot 45.8 percent from the field in the second half while the Eagles (4-8, 0-1 SBC) shot just 21.2 percent for the half and 27.3 percent for the game.

Angel McGowan led the Eagles with 14 points and seven rebounds, but only two other players had eight points or more: Alexis Brown and Sierra Butler (8 points, 14 rebounds). The 14 rebounds for Butler tied a career high and set a new season best. The Panthers had three players in double figures: Astaja Tyghter (16 points), Makeba Ponder (16 points) and Tiffany Holston (15 points, 17 rebounds).

With the win, Georgia State added a point in the Rivalry Series and now leads 6-3 after the Georgia Southern men won the second half of the women and men's doubleheader.

The Story
The first quarter was all about scoring runs as Eagles raced out to a 9-0 lead before GSU scored 4:30 in. The Panthers went on a 9-0 run of their own to tie it up with just over two minutes left in the quarter as the Eagles went over four minutes without scoring. GS scored the final seven points of the quarter over a 1:29 span to take a 16-9 lead after one.

The Eagles padded their lead in the second quarter, scoring four more points before the Panthers hit two free throws to break the 11-0 run and took an 11-point lead into the locker room. The Panthers dominated the third quarter, out-scoring the Eagles 22-6 to take their first lead of the game. Both teams struggled to close it out in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles made just one of their last eight shots and Georgia State hit its free throws in the waning moments to secure the win.

Quotables from head coach Kip Drown
"We lost the basketball game right out of the second half locker room. We played really well the first half. We played with a lot of intensity, and we talked about having to re-establish. And they go on a 10-0 run or something right out of the locker room, and all of the sudden the game is a one-point game and now we have a basketball game. That's been a problem we've had all year. We've started the second half and struggled either with leads or if we're behind, letting people get farther away. Look at the box score - we win three of the four quarters but lose the third quarter 22-6. It was all about our intensity coming out after halftime. For whatever reason, we let them be the aggressor and take over the game. We made a nice run, but once we let them back in, you knew it was going to go down to the wire after that, and unfortunately we didn't make some plays."

"I told the kids in the locker room - I'm proud of Sierra, Angel and Haley. They had 14 offensive rebounds between them. We didn't shoot it very well, and there were opportunities. Thank goodness we got on the offensive glass because that's what kept us in the game. That and the fact that we only turned it over 12 times. The turnovers the last three games are coming down and we're getting better at that, but we have to start making more shots."

Next up
Georgia Southern will play two more Sun Belt games in Statesboro, hosting South Alabama on Jan. 5 and Troy on Jan. 7 before hitting the road again.


The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.

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. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.