STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern women's basketball team overcame a 14-0 deficit to start the game and then held off a furious rally late to down Texas State 71-69 Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.

Led by Patrice Butler and Angel McGowan, the Eagle veterans showed up on Senior Day, combining to score 35 points in the big comeback. Butler had 24 points and nine rebounds while McGowan poured in 21 points and hit three 3-pointers in the win.

GS shot a blistering 69.2 percent from the field and hit six long balls in the second half, overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit.

Toshua Leavitt led the Bobcats with 22 points, including six 3-pointers.

With the win, GS moved to 12-14 overall, 8-7 in the Sun Belt, while Texas State fell to 14-11, 9-5 in the league.

THE STORY
Georgia Southern took nearly six minutes before scoring its opening bucket, a layup from Angel McGowan. The Bobcats shot 46 percent from the field in the first quarter, hitting four 3-pointers while the Eagles made just three field goals and trailed 18-7 after one period. GS doubled its scoring output in the second quarter, putting 14 points up, but the Bobcats equalled the tally to take a 32-21 lead into the break.

The Eagles were shot out of canon in the third quarter, shooting 76.9 percent from the field and out-scoring the Bobcats 25-17 to cut the deficit to three points heading to the final quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, the Eagles remained on fire as they opened the period on a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game. The lead grew to seven points with just under four minutes left before the teams started trading points. McGowan hit a free throw with 1:09 left to make it a four-point lead, but Leavitt hit her sixth long ball to make it a one-point game. GS couldn't get a basket and TSU had a chance to win it, but Leavitt's long-range shot was off as the Eagles held on. GS shot 61.5 percent in the final quarter and made six free throws to complete the comeback.

QUOTABLES
Senior Angel McGowan
"We never gave up during that game. We got down but we built each other up, gave each other confidence and knew that we could take the game back. I love our senior class and it means a lot to win on Senior Day, we have been through so much and we have been committed to helping this program change and leave it better than we found it and that has been the most rewarding thing to us."

Head Coach Kip Drown 
On battling back from a 14-0 deficit
"They came out with a couple threes right out of the game and I didn't really realize it got that bad. We couldn't shoot the ball well in the first half, but once we switched up our defense we were doing a much better job and started making baskets. We stayed into the game and never panicked, and it really showed how we have matured as a basketball team in the second half today."

On Senior Day
"I love it when the seniors can walk away with a win. All four of them did a great job across the board, and they were so excited in the locker room. I hope this is something we can continue to build on as we go into the next two weeks and get ready to head into the Sun Belt Tournament." 

On the conference standings
"Right now, we are just trying to take care of our own business. If we get help from someone, that's great. If not, we will probably sit in that five or six spot in the conference and have to defend off the teams that are chasing us. The way we do that is to win games, and we did that today. We got a big split against two top four teams in the league and we have a lot of positives to take away from this weekend."

UP NEXT: 
The Eagles will hit the road next weekend for their Arkansas Sun Belt swing. GS will face off against the leading team in the Sun Belt, Little Rock, at 7:30 p.m. (6:30 CT) on Thursday and then travel to Jonesboro to play Arkansas State at 4 p.m. (3 CT) on Saturday.


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.