TROY, AL –  The Georgia Southern women's basketball team (7-12, 3-5 SBC) fell to the Troy Trojans (14-5, 7-1 SBC) inside of Trojan Arena on Thursday evening. The Eagles and Trojans were tied at 31 points each heading into halftime, but a trail of fouls and timely scoring by the Trojans led them to their seventh Sun Belt win.

The Eagles held the Trojans to 77 points, which is 12 shy of their average 89 points per game. Angel McGowan recorded 23 points, five rebounds and two steals, and Georgia Southern shot a collective 35.5% (22-62) from the field. Junior Alexis Foulks recorded her first career double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds on the night. Patrice Butler collected 19 points and six rebounds for Georgia Southern, and her sister Sierra Butler recorded seven rebounds from down low for the Eagles.

Caitlyn Ramirez and Jayla Chills led the Trojans with 19 points each. Chills led the team from behind the three-point line with a 44.4% percentage (4-9) and led the boards with ten rebounds. Lauren Day collected nine rebounds and three blocks for the Trojans.

THE STORY
The Eagles recorded four fouls within the first five minutes of play and the Trojans jumped out to a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. Troy then extended their lead to 10 with 8:12 remaining in the second quarter, but the Eagles matched the Trojans momentum and fought back, going on a 15-2 run. GS erased their 10 point deficit, heading into halftime in a 31-31 tie.

The Trojans shot only 28.6% (12-42) from the field in the first half whereas the Eagles held a 30.3% (10-33) percentage. Much of the Eagles success in the first half was from the free-throw line, the Eagles shot a perfect 100% (8-8) in the first half and were fouled a total of 10 times.

Troy opened the third quarter with a five point streak and improved their percentage from field goal range to 47.4% (9-19), extending their lead to 13 points. Georgia Southern out-scored Troy in the fourth quarter, 22-19, but the Trojans third quarter run was enough to lift them to a 77-67 win. The Eagles ended the game shooting 35.5% (22-62) from the field with a 89.5% (17-19) free throw percentage.
 
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH KIP DROWN
"They got us down in the first half, but we came back and got the tie at halftime. They took it up in the third quarter and even though we were able to get it down to five at the end there, I was so proud of our kids. We battled hard. We gave up 16 points to them on free throws there in the second half from fouling shooters, we fouled two three-point shooters and when you play someone as good as Troy and give them 16 free-throw points in the second half, that's something we need to do a better job of."

"There were a lot of positives from this game. We need to come out Saturday at South Alabama and set the tone, put this one out of our minds and learn from it. We will keep moving on, Saturday is a huge game for us and I think we can take out a lot of positive things from this game."


NEXT UP
The Eagles will continue their Alabama conference swing against South Alabama on Saturday night. The Eagles will play live on ESPN3 against South Alabama at 5 p.m. (CT), 6 p.m. Eastern.
 
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