PENSACOLA, Fla. - No. 12-seed Georgia Southern women's basketball saw its run in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Tournament come to a close with a 70-64 loss to No. 8 seed Georgia State on Wednesday at the Pensacola Bay Center.
The Eagles finish the 2024-25 campaign with a 16-18 mark after earning two wins in the tournament. Previously, Georgia Southern had won two total Sun Belt tournament games since joining the league in 2014-15.
Georgia State opened up a 10-point lead in the first quarter, but the Eagles cut that lead to five, 20-15, thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by senior Bukky Akinsola.
Buzzer-beating would be a theme as the Eagles closed out the second quarter on a huge run to take a 38-33 lead at the break. Junior Nakiyah Mays-Prince had a steal and drained a half-court shot just before half to stake Georgia Southern to the lead.
Georgia State would regain the lead thanks to opening the third quarter on a 16-3 run. Again, the Eagles would battle back, cutting the deficit to three, 53-50, at the end of the period.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers maintained the lead, but the Eagles again got within one point, 60-59, with 1:22 left. Georgia State's Mahogany Matthews would can a three-pointer with 56 seconds left to stretch the lead back to two possessions, essentially ending the contest.
Akinsola scored a season-high 18 points - 14 in the first half - to lead a trio of Eagles in double figures. McKenna Eddings scored 12, while Indya Green notched a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Mikyla Tolivert's 22 points led all scorers on the day for the Panthers.
Eagle of the Game
Akinsola hit 6-of-11 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, en route to hear season high point total. She also added four assists, two steals and two blocked shots on the day.
Stat of the Game
Georgia State hit 25-of-33 free throws in the contest, while the Eagles hit just 8-of-11 from the charity stripe.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on the game against the Panthers
"Really proud of the effort of our group tonight. If you look at the stat sheet and look at the percentages, look at winning the points off of turnovers battle, you'd think we'd be on the other end of this. I thought we showed great heart down the stretch. We started to play our best basketball at the right time and came together as a team, which was beautiful to see. Happy for our seniors, who are leaving here knowing they set a foundation for us moving forward."
Senior Indya Green on winning two games in the tournament after the program winning just two since joining the league in 2014
"I feel like it means a lot. We came in here as the 12 seed and we went a lot farther than most people expected us to. Proud of our team and the foundation we've built for the girls who are coming in after us. it's been a really great year, we've overcome a lot and I'm just really proud of our team."
Next Up
Georgia Southern loses five seniors to graduation - Akinsola, Green, Eddings, Leah Johnson and Nicole Gwynn - and will return eight players for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
