STATESBORO - Visiting Furman outscored Georgia Southern women's basketball by a 26-12 margin in the pivotal fourth quarter to pick up a 73-58 victory over the host Eagles on Thursday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Paladins (1-1) claimed their 10th straight win in the series between the former SoCon rivals. Georgia Southern (1-2) dropped its home opener for the third consecutive season with the loss.

Furman's Tate Walters hit for 12 of her team's 20 first-quarter points to give the Paladins a 20-19 edge at the end of the first period. Georgia Southern forced seven second-quarter turnovers and held Furman to just 10 points in the period, and sophomore Mya Burns hit a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds left before halftime to give the Eagles a 32-30 lead at the break.

In the second half, Furman got a late three from Walters to take a 47-46 lead at the end of the third quarter, then hit 9-of-11 shots from the floor, including all three three-pointers, en route to the 26-point fourth quarter to come away with the victory. Georgia Southern shot just 29.4% in the period (5-of-17) and went 0-for-8 from long range.

After outrebounding its first two opponents of the season, Georgia Southern lost the battle of the boards to the Paladins as Furman outrebounded the Eagles 50-30.

A'Tyanna Gaulden's 10 points led the Eagles on the evening, while Walters ended up with a game-high 25 points for Furman on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-9 from three-point range.

Eagle of the Game
Gaulden had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals for Georgia Southern in her second double-digit scoring performance of the year.

Stat of the Game
Georgia Southern forced 25 turnovers by the Paladins, and held a 20-10 edge in points off of turnovers. The turnovers were the most forced by the Eagles since GS forced 27 turnovers by Coastal Carolina on Jan. 30, 2020.

Quotables • LISTEN TO FULL POSTGAME COMMENTS HERE
Head Coach Anita Howard general comments on the game with Furman
"Our first game back in Hanner, I thought we battled with them for the most part. But we couldn't get over the hump. With a young team, our youth showed up. I was pleased with our fight and effort to stay within striking distance of Furman, but we just let it get away at the end. The turnovers, the lack of execution and focus hurt us down the stretch."

Coach Howard on the shot selection in the second half
"We looked at times like a deer in the headlights. I thought we would shoot it much better being back at home in Hanner. We were rushing shots, we were forcing shots because we ended up playing pick up basketball rather than team basketball. We were not settling down and executing our offensive sets. So then, when we went freelance, no one really know what the other person was doing. It wasn't organized chaos, it just turned into chaos. So we have to figure out which one of our upperclassmen or leaders can settle us down and get us into our offensive set and make us execute in the halfcourt."

Next Up
Georgia Southern returns to Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday, December 12th, hosting the College of Coastal Georgia at Noon.