Box Score - Georgia State 63, South Alabama 55 (.pdf)
ATLANTA – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team trailed by as much as 24 points in the second half Thursday afternoon, but came up short in its comeback effort as Georgia State held on to pick up a 63-55 Sun Belt Conference win at the GSU Sports Arena.
"It was a tale of two halves for us," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "We scored 16 points in the first half and then come out and score 39 in the second half. We were getting shots (in the first half), but they just weren't falling. We started hanging our heads a little bit and that carried over to defense where we gave up some transition baskets. I told our players to just keep shooting the same shots and they were going to start falling and in the second half they did. We have to be able to play through the bad times though.
"We have to just play one-possession at a time and stay in the moment. Not look ahead, not look back. Just stay in the moment and pay with intensity on every possession."
The game had been originally scheduled for Wednesday, but due to weather and travel condition caused by Tuesday's winter storm in the Southeast, the game was moved.
USA (6-12, 4-4 SBC) will make a quick turn around and return home to host Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday as part of the "Reunion Weekend" festivities. Tip-off versus the Trojans is set for 2:05 p.m. at the Mitchell Center. An "Oldtimers Game" for former players is set for 11 a.m.
Meghan Dunn led the Jags with 17 points as she was 7-of-14 from the field. Dunn also paced the club with three three-pointers and three steals. Jennifer Johnson added 11 points off the bench for South Alabama on 5-of-12 shooting, while Breanna Hall nearly carded a double-double with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
South Alabama, which entered the contest leading the SBC from the outside, was just 1-of-13 from the arc in the first half and finished 7-of-26 for 26.9 percent. USA also hit just eight of its 16 attempts at the foul line in the loss.
Georgia State improved to 10-10 overall and 6-2 in the league its fifth-straight win. Alisha Andrews led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting and also had five assists and three steals in 32 minutes of action. Brittany Logan posted her third-consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Gabby Moss and Kendra Long just missed double figures as the duo ended the night with nine points apiece.
South Alabama came out and grabbed an early 8-2 advantage in the opening minutes of the contest, but after hitting three of its first shots, USA's offense went into a slump as it missed 14 of its next 15 shot. Dunn's bucket at the 9:43 mark snapped a streak of 11-straight misses.
The host Panthers took advantage of the cold spurt by the Jags as they tied the contest back up at 8-8 on a basket by Long with less than 13 minutes remaining. GSU's Ashley Watson later capped off an 18-2 Panther run with a layup of her own and gave the home team a 20-10 lead with six minutes to go before the half.
Taylor Jenkins and Johnson knocked down back-to-back jumpers to end the run a minute later, but the Panthers answered right back with seven-straight points and stretched their lead back out to 26-14 on a pair of free throws by Moss.
Andrews came up big in the closing seconds of the opening period of play when the 4-10 point guard knocked down a jumper just inside the three-point line with 10 seconds remaining and then after stealing the ball got her one-hander to fall just before the horn, sending the Panthers into the locker room with a 15-point advantage (31-16).
USA was just 6-for-31 from the field for 19.4 percent and had just the one three-pointer, while GSU shot 45.2 percent and scored 22 of its 31 first-half points in the paint. Georgia State held a huge advantage in the contest in the latter category, outscoring the Jags 42-16.
In the second half, South Alabama seemed to find its shooting touch and Dunn connected from the outside on the Jaguars' first possession of the period, but Andrews, GSU regained the momentum and answered back with a 13-1 run over a three-and-a-half minute stretch. Andrews had a layup and a pair of trey, the second of which capped off the scoring and gave the Panthers a 44-20 lead with 15 minutes, 35 seconds remaining, during the run.
Trailing now by 24, South Alabama began to mount its comeback attempt. Hall found Robertson open for an easy bucket on USA's ensuing possession. The Robertson bucket ended up igniting a 13-2 run for the Jags over the next four-plus minutes. Johnson and Hall then combined for the club's next 11 points. Johnson's 15-foot jumper with less than 12 to play trimmed the deficit to 46-33 for the Jags.
GSU got a pair of baskets two minutes later to extend the lead back to 17, but South Alabama refused to give in and continued to chip away at the Panther advantage. Sharon Sanders' trey from the left corner at the 4:01 mark got the deficit to single digits, pulling USA to within eight (54-46).
South Alabama later pulled to within five (58-53) when Dunn banked in a three from the left wing and then knocked down a baseline jumper with one minute, 46 seconds showing on the scoreboard following a steal by Hall.
However, Kayla Nolan's and-one play at the other end of the floor on an inbounds play ended the threat. From there, GSU held on to pick up the eight-point win.
South Alabama was 14-of-25 from the floor for 56.0 percent and 6-of-13 from the three-point line in the second half.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
NOTES: South Alabama falls to 2-3 in the all-time series versus Georgia State with the loss. The game was the first in the series to be played in Atlanta since the 1996-97 season. The game between USA and GSU had been originally scheduled for Wednesday, but due to weather and travel condition caused by Tuesday's winter storm in the Southeast, the game was moved. The 10 rebounds by Breanna Hall were a new career-best for the junior guard. With her 17 points versus Georgia State, Meghan Dunn has now recorded double figures 12 times this season. Freshman guard Colby Davis missed her second-straight game due to injury versus the Panthers.
—USA—
