Women's Basketball | 2/24/2016 2:22:00 PM

Georgia Southern (7-19, 4-13) vs. App State (8-17, 5-11)
Thursday, Feb. 25 – Hanner Fieldhouse (4,325) – 5:00 p.m.

Live Video (ESPN3) | Live Stats | Live Audio | Tickets | Upcoming Promotions | Gameday Guide: Basketball

Radio: 91.9 FM the Buzz (Colin Lacy, play-by-play)
Video: ESPN3 (Jeff Radcliffe, play-by-play; Daniel Waugh, color commentator)

Promotions: Three Friends Thursday - Bring three of your friends and receive a free giveaway; Stamp Card - Ends after women's game; Haftime show with Langston Chapel Middle School Step Team.


Last Meeting: 1/25/16 - W, 65-50 (Boone, N.C.)
Overall: Southern leads, 36-18
In Statesboro: Southern leads, 14-10
In Boone: Southern leads, 18-7
Neutral Sites: Southern leads, 4-1
Current Streak: Southern – W1

Probable Starters for Georgia Southern (Based on previous games):
#11 Angel McGowan, G
#20 Sierra Kirkland, F
#23 Alexis Sams, G
#25 Sierra Butler, F
#35 Patrice Butler, C

Georgia Southern Information:
[Roster] [Schedule] [Season Stats] [@GSAthletics_WBB] [Game Notes (PDF)]

Appalachian State Information:
[Roster] [Schedule] [Season Stats] [@AppStateWBB]


TRUE BLUE WEEK - FEB. 18-29 (Click the link for more information)
• When you are True Blue, why only celebrate once a year? So while the traditional True Blue Week that takes place before the first home football game in the fall is great, the Georgia Southern Athletics Department is taking a busy week and turning it into a celebration of Eagle Athletics. With 19 home events featuring six sports taking place over an 11-day span in late February, True Blue Week is back and loaded with great stuff.

HOME PROMOTIONS
• Three Friends Thursday - Bring three of your friends and receive a free giveaway.
• Stamp Card - Ends after women's game.
• Halftime show with Langston Chapel Middle School Step Team.

INSIDE THE CONFERENCE STANDINGS
• With the regular season winding down, there are just four spots left up for grabs in the Sun Belt Conference tournament as the top four teams in the conference standings have all clinched berths.
• Arkansas State, Little Rock, UL Lafayette and South Alabama are the top four teams in the conference that have secured berths to the tournament. Below that, things are still being worked out.
• UT Arlington (8-7) is fifth in the standings with Troy (8-8) just half a game behind in sixth.
• Texas State is currently seventh with a 7-8 conference record and Appalachian State is in the eighth and final spot with a 5-11 mark despite dropping their last four games. Texas State still has five games to play including games at Arkansas State and Little Rock and the second rivalry game at UT Arlington while the Mountaineers have games at Southern and State.
• Georgia Southern (4-13) is now a game behind Georgia State in ninth (5-12) and a game and a half back from App State. The Eagles must win the next two games against App State and UL Monroe as well as get some help to have a chance to make the tournament. Saturday's game between App State and Georgia State will also go a long ways towards clearing up the eighth spot in the standings.

THE EAGLES WITHIN THE SUN BELT
• Heading into Thursday's rivalry showdown with App State, Southern is in the top-seven of the conference in seven different categories. The Eagles are fourth with 6.2 three-point field goals made per game and fifth with a .397 team field goal percentage.
• Southern is also sixth in the SBC in three-point field goal percentage defense (.316). The Eagles are seventh in scoring defense (62.0 point allowed per game), team free throw percentage (.682), team three-point field goal percentage (.295), and defensive rebounds (24.0 per game).
• Juniors Angel McGowan and Patrice Butler are currently seventh and ninth in the conference in scoring. McGowan leads the team and is seventh in the league with 14.8 points per game while Butler averages 12.5.
• McGowan is also third in the conference in three-pointers made (2.0 per game), tied for fourth in steals (2.2 per game) and 10th in the league in free throw percentage (.716).
• Butler is sixth in the Sun Belt with a .757 free throw percentage, 12th in the league in field goal percentage (.454), 14th in rebounding (5.4 per game) and 15th with 3.7 defensive rebounds per game.
• Sophomore Sierra Butler is tied for 12th in the conference in overall rebounding (5.5 per game) and is 11th in the conference in offensive boards with 2.2 per outing.

QUICK HITTERS
• Junior Patrice Butler is in the midst of a six-game streak where she has scored in double-figures. In those games, she is averaging a team-best 14.0 points per game to go along with 4.4 rebounds and has been shooting a scorching .540 from the field over that span.
• Senior Sierra Kirkland's 117 games played for the Blue and White has her tied for sixth in program history for most games played. When she next takes the court for her 118th game, it will move her up into a tie for fifth with Meredith Frye (2009-13).
• In Monday's ESPN3 game against Georgia State, Angel McGowan tied her career-high of 7 steals. She first set the mark earlier this year at home against South Alabama.
• McGowan now has 144 career steals which has her in a tie for 16th all-time in program history. She matched Tracy Wilson (1987-91) for the mark.
• If Alexis Sams continues to log the minutes she has all season, the junior will set a new school record for single-season minutes average. Sams averages 36.1 minutes per game and the current mark is held by Deb Blackshear (1988-89) with 34.2 minutes per game.
• Sams' 939 total minutes played this season has her currently ninth all-time for most minutes by a single player in a single season.

THE HISTORY WITH APP STATE
• When Georgia Southern and Georgia State meet on ESPN3 Thursday evening, it will be the 55th meeting between the two programs with Southern leading the series with the long-time rivals 36-18.
• The Eagles won 65-50 in the first meeting this season against App State in Boone, N.C. (1/25/2016).
• The Eagles boast a 14-10 record over the Mountaineers in Statesboro despite the Mountaineers winning the last home meeting 77-74 on Jan. 29, 2015.
• The series with Appalachian State is the third-longest series in program history. The Eagles have played only Mercer (63 times) and Chattanooga (55 times) more times.
• Appalachian State and Georgia Southern began as rivals in the SoCon before both moving over to the Sun Belt Conference together prior to the 2014-15 season.
• The two programs first squared off on January 1, 1990 in Statesboro. App State claimed that meeting 91-89, but Southern went on to win the next four in a row and five of the next six.
• Southern boasts the longest winning streak in the series with 14 wins from Feb. 8, 2000 through Feb. 21, 2005, all under Rusty Cram.
• The Eagles and Mountaineers met four times during the 2001 calendar year with Southern winning all four games by an average of 14.0 points. Three of the four games were part of the 2000-01 season with the fourth coming during the 2001-02 season.
• The last time the two teams met, three Eagles finished in double-figures led by Angel McGowan's 20 points. Just behind her was Patrice Butler's 17 and Alexis Sams' 10 points.  McGowan went 8-for-16 from the field, including hitting four three-pointers, and Butler finished with a double-double with 10 points.
• For the Mountaineers, Madi Story led the way with 16 points and Joi Jones finished with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
• Entering Thursday's game, the Mountaineers (8-17, 5-11) are the third-highest scoring team in the conference, averaging 65.8 points per game despite being in the midst of a four-game losing skid.
• Despite their prowess at scoring, the Mountaineers are 10th in the Sun Belt in scoring defense, allowing 71.4 points per game.
• App State is second in the league in blocked shots (4.4 per game) as well as offensive rebounds (14.7 per outing) and defensive boards (26.0 per game), fifth in steals (8.2 per game), sixth in assists (11.4 per game) and seventh in the league in field goal percentage (.387).
• App State is led in scoring by Madi Story's 12.2 points per game, a mark which has her 10th in the league in scoring. Joi Jones is 13th in the conference with 11.5 points per game and Kaila Craven is the 28th-highest scorer with 8.8 points per outing.
• Story is 11th in the conference in free throw percentage (.715).
• Keke Cooper, Mia Marshall, Jones and Ashley Bassett-Smith lead the Mountaineers in rebounding. Cooper is fourth in the conference with 7.4 boards per game while Marshall is ninth with 6.7 rebounds per outing. Jones averages 5.2 (17th-best) and Bassett-Smith brings down an average of 4.8 rebounds per game (20th-best).
• Cooper leads the conference in field goal percentage (.578) is third in the league in defensive rebounds (5.3 per game) and is fifth in blocked shots (1.3 per game).

NEXT UP
• Following Thursday's rivalry game against App State, the Eagles travel to Monroe, Louisiana to take on UL Monroe Thursday, March 3 at 6:15 p.m., then head to Lafayette to play UL Lafayette March 5 at 6 p.m.


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.