JONESBORO, AR - The Georgia Southern women's basketball team (13-15, 9-8 SBC) defeated the Arkansas State Red Wolves (6-22, 4-12 SBC) inside of the Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon.
Patrice Butler led the charge for the Eagles, going 11-22 from the field and scoring a career-high 28 points against the Red Wolves. The senior also collected seven rebounds and two steals on the day.
Senior guard
Angel McGowan also had a great game in Jonesboro, collecting 18 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Standout freshman
Alexis Brown also collected double digit points with 15.
Alexis Foulks tacked on eight points, and
Sierra Butler,
Amira Atwater, and
Jessica Marcus each collected four rebounds.
Brittany Fowler led the Red Wolves on her Senior Day with 27 points and two steals. Jada Ford contributed 18 points, and Payton Tennison scored nine. Lauren Bradshaw led the Red Wolves from down low with 12 rebounds on the day.
THE STORY
Georgia Southern and Arkansas State came out of the gates shooting hot, knocking down 13 three-pointers throughout the first half. The Red Wolves outscored the Eagles in both of the first quarters, 19-13 in the first and then 20-18 in the second. Arkansas State went on a 14-2 shooting run at the end of the first quarter to extend their lead, and mthe hot shooting by the Red Wolves game them the momentum heading into the half, where they were shooting 40% (12-30) from field goal range.
The Eagles stepped up their defense in the second half, taking the lead in the third quarter for the first time since early in the first half. GS outscored the Red Wolves 25-11 in the third quarter, which proved to be the key factor in the Eagles win 84-76 win. GS shot 41.8% (26-67) from field goal range on the night, and also had an impressive 37.9%(11-29) shooting percentage from beyond the three-point arch. GS finished the game out-rebounding Arkansas State 39-29.
QUOTABLES
Senior Patrice Butler
"I was trying to be tougher down low in the second half and it opened me up with some good shots. Arkansas State is a good squad and they have a lot of girls that can knock the three pointers down. We held our composure and really did a good job of covering them during the second half, and that was the difference maker throughout the rest of the game."
Head Coach Kip Drown
On battling back after the first half
"I thought we played pretty well in the first half, we had ten offensive rebounds and a really great overall effort. At that point we just had to tip our hat to Arkansas State who was shooting the ball really well, but I told our kids that we were still in a good position to come out and get back in the game, and I'm really proud of the effort we got. We held our composure and only turned the ball over three times in the second half, we made our free throws, and really did great despite all the fans and the crazy environment. We did the things that good basketball teams do."
On the overall effort
"We were solid tonight and the effort was there from the get-go. Arkansas State is a team that plays hard, really hard. We saw that in film and knew that we would have to match their tempo from the beginning of the ball game, which we did. It showed up in offensive rebounds, we made some big shots and reacted to the pressure well. We now have won five of our last seven on the road, this was a big split on this roadtrip and we are going into our last game against Georgia State in a really good place."
NEXT UP
Georgia Southern will wrap up the regular season against the Georgia State Panthers next Saturday in Atlanta. GS will then head straight to New Orleans for the Sun Belt Tournament on March 7-12.
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.
