Wednesday, December 2
Eagles Claim First Win of Season over Savannah State
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women’s basketball team played their most complete game of the young season Friday night and was rewarded with a 64-48 win over Savannah State University on the road. It was the first win of the season and first for head coach Kip Drown at Georgia Southern.
The Eagles (1-3) played well for most of the night on both sides of the ball, but more so on offense. The team shot 44.9% (22-49) from the field, including 60.0% (12-20) in the second half, and made 11 three-pointers.
The Eagles also played well on defense for much of the night, forcing the Tigers (1-4) to take shots that were not necessarily open en route to shooting just 29.0% (18-62) from the field. Part of the rough shooting night for the Tigers came from four Georgia Southern blocks, three by senior Briana Jones. Jones’ three blocks moved her into sole possession of fourth all-time in program history with 69 career blocks.
Junior Patrice Butler recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds and was perfect from three-point range with four, one shy of her career-high of five in a single game. It was the first double-double for an Eagle player this season as four total players finished with double-digit points.
Junior guard Angel McGowan, who recorded her first start of the season after coming back from an injury in the pre-season, led all scorers with 19 points off 7-11 shooting from the field. She had two three-pointers and went 3-for-5 at the charity stripe.
Sophomore Abby Hix got her first career start Friday night and did not disappoint as she eclipsed the century mark (100) for points in a career with her first three-pointer of the game in the first half. She finished the game with 10 points and two treys while Alexis Sams matched Hix’s 10 points to round out the double-figure scoring.
For the Tigers, Kenyata Hendrix led the way with 12 points including a game-high three three-pointers. Deyja Brown matched her with three treys for nine points.
The Story
The Eagles got off to the best start of the season despite holding just a 25-23 lead at half time after Sams hit a floating jumper just as time expired in the opening half. But it was in the second half where the Eagles distanced themselves from the Tigers.
Out of the intermission, Sierra Kirkland, McGowan and Hix all hit three-pointers, including two by McGowan, to extend the Eagle lead out to 12 and force the Tigers to call a timeout. Despite the timeout, the Eagles continued to find their tempo and extended the lead out to as many as 20 with 4:06 left in the third quarter.
Down the stretch, Savannah State was able to force a few turnovers to give Georgia Southern fits, but the lead never dipped below 12 the rest of the way.
No. 21 Oklahoma Pulls Away From Little Rock in Second Half
NORMAN, Okla. – For the third straight game, a big third-quarter takeover helped a team to a victory. But for the first time in those three games, that takeover did not belong to the Trojans.
No. 21 Oklahoma went on an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter and used that to take the lead for good in a 65-52 victory over Little Rock at the Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday night.
The Trojans (2-3), trailing 31-29 at halftime, scored the first 4 points of the third quarter to take a 33-31 lead with 8:07 remaining. But from there, the Sooners (6-1) suffocated the Little Rock offense and scored the next 8 points and 14 of the quarter's final 18 points to take a 45-37 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Trojan offense did not get going in the final period, and the Sooners extended their lead for a13-point win.
Shanity James scored in double figures for the fifth consecutive game this season and reached 20 points for the third straight game, leading Little Rock with 21 and also topping the team with eight rebounds in her 100th career game.
Junior Sharde' Collins set a career high with 13 points, topping the 12 she had against Oklahoma at the Jack Stephens Center last year in a Trojan victory.
Sophomore Monique Townson led the team with six assists and five steals, and she also added six rebounds to set career highs in all three categories.
Throughout the night, Little Rock's defense had no answer for Oklahoma's 6-foot-3 center
Kaylon Williams. She drew multiple fouls as she got inside and scored easy baskets. She had 11 points and nine rebounds at halftime and finished with 21 and 15, respectively.
In the early going, the game was much more competitive than the final score made it seem.
The Sooners made easy layups on their first three possessions of the night, taking a 6-2 lead in just under two minutes of play. But a Collins 3-pointer and an Alexius Dawn jumper combined with defensive stops gave the Trojans a 7-6 edge briefly. Oklahoma got the lead back at 8-7, but the Trojans rattled off 4 straight points next as James hit her second shot and Collins sank a layup while getting fouled to make it 11-8 Trojans with 4:58 left in the first quarter.
The rest of the first quarter was fairly even as well. Though Trojan guards continued to get in foul trouble – Dawn and Collins each got two in the first quarter – the team got 8 points in the quarter from James and Pratt combined, and Collins finished the period with 5. A Townson jumper with five seconds left in the first put Oklahoma's lead at just 18-17 heading into the second quarter.
Little Rock tied the game at 20-20 quickly in the second quarter, and from there went on a 7-2 run thanks to two James layups and a Dawn 3-pointer that gave the team a 27-22 lead midway through the quarter. But the Sooners fought back before the half ended, taking a 31-29 lead into the break as a Keanna Keys layup was the only other points scored by the Trojans in the half. Little missed eight of its final nine field goals in the half as Oklahoma mounted its comeback.
The Trojans held the Oklahoma offense stagnant to begin the third quarter and took a 33-31 lead thanks to an early 4-0 run. But from there, the Sooners fought back, smothering Little Rock's offense and getting 6 straight points to force Trojan coach Joe Foley to call a timeout midway through the quarter.
Little Rock would never lead again, and the Sooners would eventually extend their lead to as many as 16 with a minute remaining.
During the night, Sharde' Collins picked up her 200th career point and Alexius Dawn snagged her 100th defensive rebound.
Dawn finished with 8 points while Townson and Keys had 2 apiece to complete the Trojans' total scoring. Kaitlyn Pratt had six rebounds but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Keys, James and Dawn all finished with four fouls as whistles again got Little Rock in trouble early and late.
Little Rock's road doesn't get any easier on Sunday, as the Trojans return home to take on No. 6 Texas. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center.
Appalachian State Falls to the College of Charleston
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Kaila Craven (Asheboro, N.C./Southwest Randolph) scored a career-high 16 points but it wasn’t enough as Appalachian State University women’s basketball (1-5) fell on the road Wednesday evening to College of Charleston, 60-50, in TD Arena.
App State Starters: #2 Farrahn Wood (Kernersville, N.C./Forsyth Country Day), #10 Joi Jones (Duluth, Ga./Duluth), #23 KeKe Cooper (Spartanburg, S.C./Dorman), #34 Madi Story (Bandys/Maiden, N.C.), #42 Mia Marshall (Lilburn, Ga./Lilburn)
CofC Starters: #1 Nola Henry, #2 Darien Huff, #12 Jackie Luna-Castro, #24 Breanna Bolden, #44 Kelsey Booth
Craven had her coming out party on Wednesday for her first double-digit scoring game of her young career while shooting 5-for-10 from the field and 5-for-7 from the line. The freshman spearheaded a bench that scored 29 of the team’s points (58 percent). Ashley Bassett-Smith (Pickerington, Ohio/UT Martin) scored eight points and grabbed a career-high eight off the glass. Marshall dominated the boards with a game-high 10 boards, including six on the offensive end. It was the junior’s second double-digit rebounding game of the season.
App State would go on to win the battle in the paint outscoring its counterpart, 26-18, while also winning the battle on the boards, 51-48. Appalachian even corralled more boards on the offensive end (27) than on the defensive side (24), but only converted those opportunities into eight points.
It was an offensive struggle for both squads, as the two teams shot no more than 33 percent from the field and committed 54 turnovers. The difference would be at the charity stripe with the Cougars (4-2) shooting 22-of-31 from the field to App State’s 10-for-21 performance from the line.
Despite never holding a lead, the Apps stayed on the Cougars’ tails throughout the opening half. Down 11-5 in the first quarter with 4:02 left, Appalachian scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the deficit to two, 13-11, heading into the second quarter. Consecutive layups from Cooper and Story trimmed the lead to two, just before CofC scored and Craven hitting a pair of free throws before the horn sounded.
Following a Bassett-Smith layup that cut the deficit to three, 18-15, the Cougars would go on a quick 6-0 spurt to take their largest lead of the half, 24-15. However, App State clawed its way back thanks to Craven having a hand in the final 12 points (10 points, one assist) of the first half that trimmed the gap to two, 29-27.
Coming out of the half, the Black and Gold were able to pull to within one point on two occasions after another Bassett-Smith jumper that made the score, 35-34, and later in the contest Craven stepped up again to cut the deficit to one, 37-36. That would be the story of the second half for the Apps, as CofC would hit timely shots just when it looked like App State was about to take the lead.
Going into the fourth period trailing by four, 46-42, App State cut the College advantage to three, 49-46, with 3:15 left in the contest. That would be the closest the Apps would get the rest of the way, as the Cougars went scored the next six points to claim a 55-46 lead and eventually claim their fourth win of the season.
The Apps did have their chances to get back into the contest. With the Cougars leading 53-46 in the midst of their spurt, Appalachian missed five free throws and a pair of shots that could have changed the momentum of the contest.
Darien Huff led the Cougars with 16 points for the home team while Breanna Bolden chipped in with 12 points.
Appalachian will have a nine-day break before hitting the road for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off at North Carolina on Saturday, December 12.