STATESBORO, Ga. – Patrice Butler and Angel McGowan combined for 47 points, and Georgia Southern never trailed in cruising to a 78-64 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over Texas State Saturday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse.

McGowan tallied 24 points to go along with career highs of eight rebounds and six assists for Georgia Southern (7-14, 4-8). Butler finished with 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 3 from long distance, and added nine rebounds and a steal.

Toshua Leavitt scored 16 points off the bench to lead Texas State (10-11, 5-6), which suffered its third-straight loss. The freshman connected on 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Ericka May scored 11, and Kiani Lurry netted 10 points.

The Eagles shot a season-high 52 percent from the field and canned 8 of 19 from 3 –point range while netting a season-high 78 points.

THE STORY
The Eagles came out blistering hot and made 10 of their 14 shots in the first quarter to build a 23-11 cushion at the end of the period. McGowan scored the last five points of the quarter on a 3-pointer from the wing and a transition layup as the buzzer sounded. The Eagles held the Bobcats to 4 of 13 from the field at the other end.

Georgia Southern turned a nine-point lead into a 35-16 advantage when Butler started a 10-0 run with consecutive 3-pointers. A McGowan transition layup gave the Eagles a 19-point lead, its largest of the contest, halfway through the second quarter. Ayriel Anderson and Taeler Deer answered with consecutive 3-pointers for the Bobcats, and Georgia Southern held a 39-26 lead at the intermission. The Eagles shot 57 percent in the half, and when the first shots didn't go in, they were there for the rebound, turning seven offensive boards into eight second-chance points.

Four straight buckets by the Bobcats cut the margin to nine points early in the third, but two triples by Trellanie English-Lurry helped the Eagles push the margin to 56-40 at the end of the period. Trailing 60-42, the Bobcats began pressing with eight minutes left in the fourth and forced five quick turnovers while scoring nine straight points. Free throws by Alexis Sams and McGowan stemmed the tide and pushed the margin back to 12 points. The Bobcats cut the lead to nine twice more, but the Eagles answered with baskets at the other end.

QUOTABLES FROM COACH DROWN
"From tip to final buzzer, I thought it was our most solid performance of the year offensively. The execution, particularly in the first half – you know, we're just growing up as a basketball team. We didn't hold on to the ball tonight as much. We'd been doing that, and that's been slowing us down. We want to play fast offensively, and we're getting better trying to create more tempo in our offense."

"It was satisfying for me as a coach, but I think it was for our players too. They were rewarded for doing what we've been trying to get them to do. We did them and we got good results tonight. That's always a positive thing."

"I thought we really pounded them on the glass. That's about effort. That's just about going and rebounding hard. We had 14 offensive rebounds, and that's really about effort. That's an area that we have struggled in at times so really happy to see us get after it so hard and be that physical. We've been trying to get more and more physical. That's what rebounding is – it's about playing hard and not being afraid to put your body on the line out there."

NEXT UP
Georgia Southern opens a two-game road swing through Alabama at Troy Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m. ET. Following Saturday's game at South Alabama, the Eagles play four straight at home from Feb. 18-25.

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.