SAVANNAH – Alexis Brown hit for a career-high 24 points, leading four Georgia Southern players in double figures as the Eagles collected their first win of the 2018-19 season, defeating Savannah State, 82-71, on Thursday evening at Tiger Arena in Savannah.

Tatum Barber and Nakol Franks added 11 points apiece, while Amira Atwater chipped in 10 points. But Brown set the tone, scoring 15 first-half points to help Georgia Southern build a 45-33 halftime lead and keep that advantage throughout the rest of the game. The Eagles outscored the Tigers 28-15 in the second quarter.

Eagle of the Game
Brown eclipsed her career high of 22 points, set vs. UL Monroe in her freshman season, by hitting 7-of-17 shots from the floor, but adding 9-of-10 free throws. She also collected a career high-tying six steals and six assists, adding a blocked shot. It was her second 20+ point performance of the young season.

Key moment
A three-point play by Brown a minute and a half into the third quarter gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game, 50-33, but Savannah State embarked on a 15-4 run over the next four and a half minutes to close the gap to six, 54-48. Georgia Southern answered with back-to-back full-court passes and layups by Barber and Brown to push the lead back to double digits, and the Eagles never looked back.

Stat of the Game
The 28 points put up by the Eagles in the second quarter were the most for Georgia Southern in a single quarter since the team also had 28 points in the third quarter of a 106-43 win over Thomas University on November 13th, 2016.

Quotables from head coach Kip Drown
On the second quarter surge:

"I thought the second quarter was a great quarter of basketball. I thought we played hard. We started down three or four, Amira got a two tips, she and AB [Alexis Brown] got out and ran a couple of times, all of a sudden you look up and we're up three, up five. That pressure really wore on them in the second quarter. We created 25 turnovers, that was probably the difference in the game."

On the success for a second straight game at the throw line: 
"AB is great off the dribble, she was 9-for-10 from the line. If she has a crack, she can get that thing to the rim, and she has a knack for drawing fouls. Amira is also an outstanding penetrater. We run a lot of things, a lot of movement, all designed to create gaps. We've been doing am much better job the last two games. You can see our offense start to get better. Overall, I'm just really pleased with our night."

Quotables from junior Alexis Brown
On her career-high 24 point night:
"I noticed that my three weren't falling, so I knew I had to drive in, and get fouled or either convert the layup and get the and-one. I try to see if someone's not helping on their man on the other team, to see if I've got a gap, and see if they'll fall for the crossover. 

On getting the win tonight vs. the Mercer game on Monday night:
"It was small things like turnovers and rebounding. We finished better rebounding and limited our turnovers. We've got a lot of fight, we've got a lot of heart. We play for each other, and when we do that we feel like we can't be beat."

Next up
The Eagles visit the state of New York to take on Stony Brook on Tuesday, November 20th at 7 p.m. in Stony Brook.