SE Georgia News

STATESBORO - It took another last-second defensive stand for Georgia Southern women's basketball to defeat Marshall as the Eagles notched a 63-61 Sun Belt Conference victory over the visiting Thundering Herd on Thursday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles (17-7, 9-6 SBC) sweep the season series from Marshall (15-11, 8-7 SBC) in their first year as new Sun Belt rivals. Georgia Southern ties the 2016-17 team for the most Sun Belt wins in a season (9) since joining the league in 2014.

Georgia Southern sprinted out to an 18-9 lead in the first quarter and built that lead as large as 19 points, 35-16, with a minute and a half left in the second quarter. Marshall made the last bucket of the half, a three-pointer, then used a 10-0 run late in the third quarter to cut the lead to three, 47-44, with two minutes to go in the period.

The Eagles would stretch the lead back out to 11, 61-50, with 5:54 left in the third quarter. But Georgia Southern would go scoreless over the next four minutes and 50 seconds, allowing Marshall to cut the lead to two, 61-59. Terren Ward's turnaround jumper with 1:03 left pushed the lead back to four, then Marshall's Roshala Scott hit a layup with 40 seconds left to make it 63-61.

A missed shot by the Eagles gave Marshall a chance at the game-winner, but Abby Beeman's contested three at the buzzer missed off the right rim to give Georgia Southern the victory.

Terren Ward led the Eagles on the night with her ninth double-double of the season, garnering 19 points and 14 rebounds. Eden Johnson also reached double figures with 10 points. Marshall placed three players in double figures, led by Sydni Scott's 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

Eagle of the Game
Johnson hit 4-of-7 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 three-pointers, while adding seven rebounds. But she came up with three blocked shots - including two huge ones in the fourth quarter - to help the Eagles preserve the win. Johnson has seven blocks in her last two games at Hanner.

Stat of the Game
The Eagles once again dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Thundering Herd by a 47-26 margin. The +21 rebounding margin is the largest this season for Georgia Southern against a Division I opponent. 

Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the scoreless stretch in the fourth quarter
"We just have to focus. We do this thing where, when we don't score, we also don't play defense. But we had to lock in defensively again tonight. All credit to Marshall - that's why they are called the Thundering Herd. They are a second half team. But I thought we showed poise down the stretch. When we get these leads, though, we have to make sure we can maintain those kinds of leads."

Next Up
Georgia Southern wraps up the 2022-23 home slate on Saturday, hosting Coastal Carolina in a 2 p.m. Sun Belt contest at Hanner. It will be Pack the House in Pink day, as well as Senior Day. Georgia Southern will honor its four seniors - Andreana Wrister, Le'Andrea Gillis, Taya Gibson and Ja'nya Love-Hill - in a pre-game ceremony. The Eagles will also be hosting a post-game clinic for kids ages 5-14.

Join us in our “Soar to Six” campaign and help us build the Eagles' nest by aiding one of Georgia Southern University's nearly 400 student-athletes in their pursuit of excellence in competition, in the classroom and in life. The Soar to Six campaign will raise our number of donors to the Erk Russell Fund to over 6,000. For as little as $60 a year or $5 a month, you can join the Erk Russell Fund, which benefits scholarships for all 17 athletics programs. Join today and help us “Soar to Six!”  

Original source can be found here.