STATESBORO - Georgia Southern opened up Sun Belt Conference women's basketball play with an 84-75 victory over visiting Arkansas State on Thursday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse, the second time in the last three seasons that the Eagles have opened Sun Belt play with a win.
The Eagles improved to 10-3 overall and 1-0 with the victory, while Arkansas State falls to 7-7 overall and 0-1 in the league. Georgia Southern improved to 2-7 in Sun Belt openers, but 2-1 under Head Coach Anita Howard, who also picked up a win in the first Sun Belt game of 2019-20 against ULM.
Georgia Southern led by five at the break, 42-37, and pushed that lead to 12 points, 65-53, with under a minute to go in the third quarter. Arkansas State chipped into that lead with a fourth-quarter run, closing the gap to two points, 71-69, with 2:50 left to go.
On the next possession, Ja'nya Love-Hill drove to the basket and was fouled by the Red Wolves' Trinitee Jackson. Jackson was also assessed a technical foul and fouled out of the game. Mya Burns sank both technical free throws, then after a three by Keya Patton made it 73-72 with 1:54 to go, Burns answered with a three of her own and the Eagles made six of eight free throws in the final 35 seconds to clinch the victory.
Burns led a quartet of Eagles in double figures with 23 points. Love-Hill finished with 13 points, while Simone James and Thaniya Marks each collected 10 points. Lauryn Pendleton's 16 points led Arkansas State in the contest.
Eagle of the Game
Burns reached 20+ points for the fourth time this season, hitting 7-of-13 shots from the floor, as well as 3-of-7 from three-point range and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. She added five rebounds as well.
Stat of the Game
The Eagles went 23-of-31 from the free throw line, shooting 74.2%. It was a season-high in free throws made for Georgia Southern, and the seventh time in 13 games that the Eagles have made 20+ free throws in a game.
Quotables • LISTEN TO FULL POST-GAME COMMENTS FROM SIMONE JAMES AND COACH HOWARD
Sophomore Simone James on the keys to the Eagles' success
"It's really winning the rebounding battle, running and sharing the ball. It's fun in this offense, everything just comes to you. You can play freely, but you have to stay in the offense and execute. I think we executed tonight and got a win for our coach."
Head Coach Anita Howard on getting the short-handed win
"I'm pleased that we kept our composure. I thought it was a different feel, being without a few of our players, but we had to figure out what that looked like. It was the next woman up mentality. I'm glad we came together and finished down the stretch."
On answering the fourth-quarter charge by Arkansas State and closing out the win
"We wanted to make sure we stayed on the attack. A lot of times it comes down to who can get into the bonus first. We wanted to get them on their heels, so we're always looking to attack in transition or in our half-court set. It was good to defend our home court tonight."
Next Up
The Eagles' scheduled Saturday contest at Little Rock was canceled due to COVID-19 issues with the Trojans. Georgia Southern will now be next in action on Thursday, January 6, visiting Coastal Carolina for a 6 p.m. contest in Conway, S.C.
