ATLANTA - Georgia Southern women's basketball wrapped up the 2018-19 season with a narrow 73-66 loss at Georgia State on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.

The Eagles finished the season at 7-22 overall and 2-16 in the Sun Belt Conference. Georgia State moves to 17-12 overall and 11-7 with the win. The Panthers also claim a point in the 2019 Southern vs. State Rivalry Series with the victory and Georgia State now holds an 8-4 lead going into tonight's men's basketball contest between the two teams in Hanner.

Georgia State started off the contest by hitting four straight three-pointers and jumping out to a 12-2 lead. The Eagles climbed back to cut the deficit to one, 20-19, at the end of the first quarter. The Panthers led by six at the break, 37-31, thanks to knocking down eight of 17 three-pointers before intermission.

Georgia Southern came out of halftime on a 9-0 run to take a 40-37 lead three minutes into the third quarter, forcing a time out from the Panthers. The home team retook the lead two minutes later and sealed the game by making six of eight free throws in the final minute.

Tatum Barber led a quartet of Eagles in double figures on the day with 17 points, while Alexis Brown added 13 points. Nakol Franks added 12 points on 4-of-9 three-point shooting and Hailey Dias-Allen chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds. Jada Lewis led a trio of Panthers in double figures with a game-high 20 points.

Player of the Game 
Barber hit 7-of-15 shots from the field and added three free throws en route to her team-high 17 points. She also added seven rebounds,

Key Moment
The Eagles trailed by seven, 67-60, with 1:57 left but got a three-point play by Sarah Moore, then a steal and a fastbreak layup by Jordan Strange to cut the deficit to just two, 67-65, with 1:06 remaining. But the Panthers were able to close out the game on the free throw line as the Eagles 

Stat of the Game
Alexis Brown finished the 2018-19 season with 506 points, becoming the first Georgia Southern women's basketball player to eclipse 500 points in a season since Gwen Thomas in 1991-92. 

Quotables
Kip Drown on the final game of the season"I told our team in shootaround today, that you have a choice. You can show up today and you can get after these guys, or you can just lay over and say 'Well, it's been a tough year, so we're going to justt go home.' But our kids chose to play. And particularly when they get down 12-2, when they hit 4 threes to do that. That can be disheartening, but our kids just kept battling. It's been difficult at times, but we've had four games in the Sun Belt where it's been a one possession game in the last two or three minutes, and we've lost all of them.  but we've had four games in the Sun Belt where it's come down to one possession in the last two or three minutes and we've lost all of them. But I was proud that we battled."

Next Up
The Eagles had no seniors on the 2018-19 squad and will return all 12 players for the upcoming 2019-20 season.