STATESBORO - South Alabama held Georgia Southern women's basketball to just 21 points in the first half en route to a 69-53 Sun Belt Conference victory over the host Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Jaguars (14-3, 3-3 SBC) claimed their second straight win, while the Eagles (5-12, 0-6 SBC) saw their current slide reach seven games.
Two days after scoring 81 points against Troy, Georgia Southern struggled from the field against the Sun Belt's top defensive unit. The Eagles shot just 25% from the field (6-of-24) before halftime as South Alabama led by 10, 31-21, at the break. The Eagles shot better in the second half, but so did the Jaguars, who clinched the contest by shooting 50% from the floor (14-of-28) after halftime.
Alexis Brown notched her second straight double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while
Tatum Barber added 14 points for the Eagles. South Alabama placed four players in double figures, led by Savannah Jones' 17 points.
Eagle of the Game
Brown eclipsed her career high in rebounds for a second straight game, grabbing 13 boards to go with her team-high 15 points. She has scored in double figures in every Sun Belt Conference game so far and has set a new season high for three-pointers made (33) with 12 games left to go in the regular season.
Key Moment
A three-pointer from Brown cut the South Alabama deficit to seven, 50-43, to open up the fourth quarter, but the Jaguars went on a 9-1 run over a two minute stretch to build a 15-point halftime lead and close out the win.
Stat of the Game
The Eagles outrebounded the Jaguars by a 38-36 margin. South Alabama came into the game as the fourth-best rebounding team in the league with a +1.3 margin.
Quotables
Head coach Kip Drown on the slow offensive start in the first half
"It was just a lack of movement. I told Coach [Lisa] Jackson i wanted her to clip the first half, to show the lack of aggressiveness, the lack of movement. We had better movement and better tempo in the third quarter. I was very frustrated at how we came out to start the game, we did not attack - especially after Thursday [against Troy] where I thought we were aggressive. That was not how we wanted to come out and play offensively. Defensively we gave up only 31 points, and besides some loose balls that we didn't get, we did some good things."
Next Up
The Eagles hit the road for Sun Belt Conference action on Thursday, January 24th, visiting UT Arlington for a 12:30 p.m. matinee against the Mavericks in Arlington, Texas.
