STATESBORO - South Alabama's Antoinette Lewis hit a layup with six seconds left to give the Jaguars a 59-58 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over host Georgia Southern on Friday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The win improves the Jaguars' record to 8-5 overall and 5-2 in the Sun Belt, while Georgia Southern suffered its fourth straight loss to fall to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the league.

South Alabama opened the contest on a 6-0 run, but the Eagles erased that deficit thanks to a pair of three-pointers from freshman Daeja Holmes and one from sophomore Shondell Vickers. Georgia Southern led by one at the end of the first quarter, 14-13, and a back-and-forth second quarter saw the score all even at 28-28 headed to halftime.

Defense keyed a 14-3 run for the Eagles in the third quarter as Georgia Southern built a 44-36 lead with 2:40 left in the frame. The lead was cut to four, 44-40, by South Alabama at the end of the quarter. In the fourth, the Eagles led by six points, 55-49, with 2:31 left when the Jaguars went on an  8-0 run to take a 57-55 lead. Holmes then hit a three-point shot with nine seconds left to put the Eagles back in front, 58-57.

After South Alabama advanced the ball on the time out, Lewis took a sidelines inbound pass and drove through the lane for the go-ahead layup. The Eagles worked an out-of-bounds play to Holmes for the game-winning shot attempt, but Lewis blocked the try to preserve the Jaguar victory.

Holmes finished with a career-high 18 points to lead all scorers on the night for the Eagles. Mahogany Vaught's 16 points led the Jaguars, while Jayla Morrow chipped in 10 points.

Eagle of the Game
Holmes hit 5-of-9 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 from three-point range and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line en route to her career-high night. She added three rebounds and a pair of assists on the night as well for the Eagles.

Stat of the Game
The three games so far played between South Alabama and Georgia Southern have been the three closest scoring margins for the Eagles this season (lost by six points, won by 7 points, lost by 1 point).

Quotables • LISTEN TO FULL POSTGAME COMMENTS HERE
Head Coach Anita Howard on the final play
"We were in the bonus, so we wanted to get something going to the basket. Put some pressure on the officials. They doubled A'Tyanna Gaulden, and so it left the freshman open. She tried to attack the basket. I thought she got a good look at it."

On the play of Holmes tonight
"We call her 'the logo' for a reason. She can shoot that thing from the Eagle head in the middle of the floor. We looked to have her come off the screen, she loves shooting it from the wing. She knocked it down, she was ice cold."  

Next Up
The Eagles and the Jaguars will wrap up their four-game Sun Belt Conference series on Saturday afternoon, meeting at 4 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse.