Georgia Southern University
11-4,4-1Sun Belt
James Madison
11-6,3-2Sun Belt
Eagles Off To Best Sun Belt Start After 78-70 Win Over JMU
1/7/2026 8:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Georgia Southern knocks off preseason league favorite Dukes, moves to 4-1 in the league
STATESBORO - Georgia Southern is off to its best start in Sun Belt play after delivering a 78-70 win over preseason favorite James Madison on Wednesday evening at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center.
The Eagles are now 11-4 overall and 4-1in the Sun Belt after the victory. The 11-4 start after 15 games also ties the best start as an NCAA member, tying the 2022-23 squad, and the 4-1 start is also the best conference start for the Eagles since 2007-08. James Madison falls to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the league with the loss.
After James Madison scored the opening bucket of the game, the Eagles sprinted out to a 20-10 lead after the first quarter, then took a 35-27 lead into halftime thanks in large part to senior Kishyah Anderson's 14 first-half points.
The Eagles stretched their lead to 13 points, 44-31, with 7:10 left in the third quarter, but JMU embarked on a 12-2 run to close the lead to just three, 46-43, with 3:22 left.
Georgia Southern quickly stretched the lead back to 11 points, 64-53, on a Shanti Simmons layup with 5:27 left to go, and the Dukes were never able to get closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Eagles shot 55.2 percent from the floor (32-of-58) in the victory and held preseason Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Peyton McDaniel to just 3-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 1-of-7 from three-point range.
Anderson finished the night with a game-high 26 points, while Destiny Garrett added 21 points and Kayla Cleaveland chipped in 11 for Georgia Southern. Shanti Simmons finished one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Ashanti Barnes led JMU offensively with 15 points.
Eagle of the Game
Anderson hit 12-of-14 shots from the floor en route to her season-high 26 points. It was her third 20+ point performance out of the last four games and she added five rebounds and three steals as well.
Stat of the Game
The Eagles hit 8-of-11 shots from the floor and the free throw line (72.7%) in the fourth quarter against the Dukes to clinch the victory.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on the victory over the Dukes
"I'm almost speechless about how proud I am of our team. This is such a fun group to coach every single day. These games you look forward to; for these big opportunities to play a team like JMU. The tradition they have and all of their successes. It was a huge challenge for us and our players responded in every way."
Coach Haden on winning 10 of the last 11 after a 1-4 start to the season
"It just says so much about this group. We knew that was going to be a challenging stretch for us, opening up those first games, but we just talked about continuing to develop our mentality and our identity, and how that was going to help us with how tough of a league the Sun Belt is. This group is just relentless and I think they've let that early stretch refine them."
Next Up
The Eagles host Old Dominion for the second time in 10 days on Saturday, January 10, for a 1 p.m. matchup against the Monarchs at The Hill.
