LAFAYETTE, La. - Louisiana held off Georgia Southern women's basketball for a 56-54 Sun Belt Conference victory on the final day of the 2021-22 regular season on Saturday at Earl K. Long Gymnasium in Lafayette.

The Eagles finish the regular season with a 17-9 overall record and an 8-6 mark in the Sun Belt, while Louisiana finishes with a 17-6 overall mark and a 9-4 record in the league. Georgia Southern will be the No. 7 seed in next week's Sun Belt tournament, facing No. 10 seed Georgia State in first-round action on Wednesday, March 2, in Pensacola.

Louisiana began the game on a 21-7 run and led by as many as 19 points, 27-8, with 6:35 left in the second quarter. Daeja Holmes answered for the Eagles with five first-half three-pointers to help Georgia Southern cut the lead to just three, 34-31, at halftime.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair in which neither team led by six. Georgia Southern built a 42-36 lead midway through the third quarter, but Louisiana stormed back and tied the game heading into the fourth.

Maya Banks made a jumper in the paint with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter, putting the Eagles up 53-51, but Georgia Southern would not make a field goal the rest of the way. Ty'Reona Doucet snapped a 53-all tie with a basket with 3:29 left, and after a Terren Ward free throw made it a one-point game with 1:14 left, the Eagles could not secure the winning bucket.

Eagle of the Game
Maya Banks hit 4-of-8 shots from the floor for eight points and also notched seven rebounds. Defensively, she helped limit the preseason Player of the Year, Doucet, to just 3-of-11 shots from the floor and eight points.

Stat of the Game
Georgia Southern made just 10-of-47 shots from two-point range (21.3%), while hitting 8-of-23 three-point shots (34.8%).

Quotables • HEAR FULL POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM COACH HOWARD
Head Coach Anita Howard on a game where the Eagles' two leading scorers (Terren Ward, Mya Burns) did not make a field goal
"It just shows how deep we are. We were down 20, with our top scorers having tough shooting nights. But to only lose by two, it shows that we have depth. We can come out and play anyone, with everyone on our roster."

Next Up
The Eagles will play in the first round of the 2022 Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday, March 2, at 8:30 p.m. ET against No. 10 seed Georgia State. It will be the first meeting between the two in-state rivals in Sun Belt Tournament play, and the first meeting between the two teams in a post-season tournament since the NSWAC Semifinals in 1987, a 64-60 win by the Eagles on March 6 in Statesboro.