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MOBILE, Ala. – Jaguar freshman guard Marquita Daniels recorded a career-high and South Alabama Mitchell Center record 37 points Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as the University of South Alabama women's basketball team dropped an 84-78 Sun Belt Conference decision to Georgia State.  

"[Georgia State} was going around on ball screens and she was able to hit shots," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "We've been working on her and been telling her 'Hey, those are shots you're going to get because on the scouting report, you're not a labeled shooter right now.' She's been working on that and she was able to come out on those first couple, where she got right onto the free throw line and hit those. She kind of got going with the steals and then the three-pointers started falling.  She just did a great job of putting us on her back.  One thing about Marquita is she's a competitor, and she competes every day.  Today, it didn't hurt that she is playing her hometown team, I am sure she wanted to play well."

The 37 points by Daniels eclipsed the previous Mitchell Center record by a Jaguar player of 32 points recorded by Lyletha Gamble versus New Mexico State back on Jan. 1, 2002 in a triple overtime win over the Aggies.  It was also the first time a USA player has had 35 or more points in a game since Adrian Vickers (35) versus Temple on Feb. 24, 1990.

""I just woke up feeling good," Daniels said.  "You get tired of losing, so you feel like you have to do something to get my team involved.  I feel like we all played as a unit tonight.  We didn't do well on the defensive end, but we just have to keep grinding."

Daniels ended the afternoon 13-of-18 from the field with three three-pointers and was 8-of-12 at the foul line.  The Atlanta, Ga., native also recorded a career-best five steals in the loss.  

"It was a hard fought ball game by both ball clubs, really proud of our kids' effort," Fowler said.  "We didn't give up at all.  It's just kind of been the tale of our season.  We weren't great at the defensive end of the floor, but offensively we are able to play good basketball. We get it to 61-60, and we fight back to get it back into a game, but one of the things I've learned doing this is it's easy to come back but, it's really hard to come back and win. We still had opportunities, just proud of effort that our ladies did and you just have to keep fighting so we will learn from this one and hopefully we can keep scoring and get back to our defensive ways as we move on to our next game."

The Jaguars (4-18, 1-12 SBC) will now travel to take on in-state rival Troy on Thursday.  Tip-off versus the Trojans is set for 5:15 p.m. at Trojan Arena.

Joining Daniels in double figures was Breanna Hall with 13 points and Chyna Ellis with 11.  For Hall, it was the 18th time this season that she has registered double digits and the 30th time in her last 34 outings.  

Led by the play of Daniels, the Jags set a new season-high with 12 steals and recorded 26 points off 22 Panther turnovers.  

As a team, South Alabama shot 47.2 percent from the field versus GSU, knocking down 25 of its 53 shot attempts.  While USA was able to get to the line 31 times, it was only able to convert 19 of those opportunities.  The Jaguars were 9-of-16 at the charity stripe in the final period of play.  

USA did tie a season-high with nine made three-pointers in the contest.

Georgia State improved to 10-12 overall and 5-8 in league play with the win.  The Panthers placed four players in double figures versus the Jags.  Leading the way were Makeba Ponder and Brittany Logan, who ended the night with 19 and 16 points, respectively off the bench.  Ponder was 5-of-10 from the floor with all five of her field goals coming from beyond the arc.  Logan was 7-of-9 from the field and pulled down eight rebounds.

Alisha Andrews and Kennesha Nichols each recorded a double-double for Georgia State.  Nichols had 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Andrews posted 15 points and was one assists from tying a career high with 10 assists.  GSU had 20 assists as a team on its 32 made shot attempts.

The Panthers were 32-of-56 from the field for 57.1 percent and 12-of-16 at the foul line.  GSU also knocked down eight of its 17 three-point opportunities and held a 34-27 advantage on the glass.  After allowing 10 offensive rebounds to Georgia State in the first half, USA held the Panthers to just two in the second half.

Both teams came out and shot the ball well during the first 20 minutes of play.

With the game tied up at 6-6 four minutes into the contest, the Panthers were the first to open up a comfortable lead.  Over the next three minutes, Georgia State would rattle off a 16-7 run.  Logan began the scoring with six-straight points and had all eight of her points during the run.  After missing its first three shots from the outside, the Panthers got hot from the three-point line and knocked down three of their seven first-half treys during that same stretch.

Logan capped off the scoring and put GSU up 22-13 with just over 12 minutes to go with her fourth bucket of the game.

Georgia Southern continued it's hot outside shooting and took its largest lead of the half after back-to-back three-pointers by Andrews and Ponder.  The three by Ponder – who led the Panthers with 12 first-half points – was one of her four during the first period of play and extended the visitor's lead out to 34-21 with seven minutes, 38 seconds showing on the clock.

Daniels – who led all scorers and set a new career high in the first period with 18 points – ignited an 11-0 Jaguar run with a basket on USA's next possession.  Daniels would add four more points during the run, while Hall would add five of her own.  Danielshit a pair of free throws at the 5:38 mark to cut the deficit to 34-32.

GSU would extend its lead back out to seven (39-32) following another three by Ponder with less than five to go, but the Jaguars would answer back with five-straight points and again trim the Panther lead to two (39-37) after on an 11-foot jumper by Ellis with just over three minutes showing.  

The Panthers would answer right back with a pair of buckets and stretch their lead back out to 43-37 with under two to play in the opening half when Andrews knocked down a long jumper in transition.  Andrews' foot was just inside the three-point line for a long two.

With time winding down, Daniels recorded her third steal of the first half and raced down the floor for an uncontested layup with 13 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 43-39.

Georgia State connected on 18 of its 32 first-half shot attempts for 56.3 percent and was 7-for-14 from the outside.  The Jaguars were 13-of-27 from the field for 48.1 percent, but just 3-of-11 from the arc.  The Panthers also held a 21-10 advantage on the glass and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, converting those opportunities into 15 second-chance points.

The 39 points by South Alabama tied for the most points for the Jaguars during the first half this season.  The 48.1 first-half shooting percentage was a new season-best for the club.

In the second half, Daniels hit one of two at the line to cut the GSU lead to 49-45 with just over 16 minutes remaining, but once again, the Panthers would extend the lead back double figures as Logan recorded four of the next six points for the visitors.  

Daniels would help the Jags hang around as she recorded 11-straight points during one stretch.  With USA still trailing by nine (59-50) with less than 11 minutes showing on the clock, Daniels drained a three from the left wing and then on South Alabama's next possession, knocked down a pair of free throws after being fouled to pull the Jags to wing in 59-55 at the 9:38 mark.  

A minute later, Rachel Cumbo connected from the left corner with a trey of her own and Hall then drove the lane and was fouled after laying the ball off the glass to make it 61-60.  But coming out of the under eight media, Hall was unable to complete the three-point play.  

The Panthers took advantage of the missed opportunity and on the ensuing Panther possession as Ashley Watson's three-point play sparked an 11-0 run for GSU over the next two-and-a-half minutes.  Ponder later capped off the scoring and extended Georgia State's lead back out to 12 (72-60) following a pair of free throws with just over five minutes to go.  

South Alabama kept battling and trimmed the deficit to five (77-72) on two more free throws by Daniels at the 1:53 mark, but that was as close as the Jaguars would get the rest of the way as the Panthers clinched the win at the foul line, knocking down five of its six attempts in the final 45 seconds.

Cumbo hit a three in the closing seconds for USA to make the final margin, 84-78.

NOTES: The meeting between South Alabama and Georgia State marked the sixth in the all-time series between the two programs.  Georgia State holds a 3-2 lead in the series.  The loss marked the first time that the Jags had lost in the series on their home floor.  USA had been 2-0 on its home court.  South Alabama is 2-20 in its last 22 Sun Belt games.  The 37 points by Marquita Daniels versus the Panthers eclipsed the previous Mitchell Center record by a Jaguar player of 32 points recorded by Lyletha Gamble versus New Mexico State back on Jan. 1, 2002 in a triple overtime win over the Aggies.  It was also the first time a USA player has had 35 or more points in a game since Adrian Vickers (35) versus Temple on Feb. 24, 1990.  Daniels also added a career-best five steals.  As a team, USA had a new season-best of 12.  The 13-point outing by Breanna Hall versus GSU marked the 18th time this season that she has registered double digits and the 30th time in her last 34 outings.  The 39 points by South Alabama in the first half versus the Panthers tied for the most points for the Jaguars during the opening half this season.  The 48.1 first-half shooting percentage by USA was also a new season-best for the club.

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).

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