Bukky Akinsola and McKenna Eddings made back-to-back threes late in the fourth quarter to break open a one-possession game and give Georgia Southern women's basketball an 82-70 season-opening win on Monday evening at Ohio in the MAC/SBC Challenge.
The victory also made new head coach Hana Haden a winner in her Eagle debut. She becomes the fourth Georgia Southern head coach to win in her debut and the first since Drema Greer in 1987.
Ohio jumped out to a 21-18 lead at the end of the first quarter, and led by as many as six points in the first half. But a 15-4 run by the Eagles to end the half gave Georgia Southern a 38-33 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, Ohio was able to make it a one-possession game, climbing to within three at 57-54 heading into the fourth quarter. A jumper by Aliah McWhorter with 3:16 left again made it a three-point game, 72-69, but then Akinsola banked in a three-pointer with 2:57 left, and after a free throw by the Bobcats, Eddings nailed a three with 2:17 left to stretch the lead to eight and clinch the win.
Four Eagles reached double figures on the night, led by Eddings' 20 points. Nakiyah Mays-Prince added 15 points, while Indya Green added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Nicole Gwynn chipped in 10 points.
Kennedi Watkins led all scorers for the Bobcats with 25 points.
Eagle of the Game
Eddings filled the stat sheet in her Eagle debut by adding 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals to her game-high 20 points. She went 3-for-8 from three-point range on the night.
Stat of the Game
The Eagles dominated in the paint against the perimeter-oriented Bobcats, outrebounding Ohio by a 48-35 margin while leading on points in the paint, 42-24.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on her first win at the helm of the Eagles
"I'm really proud for our team. It's a great opportunity for me here at Georgia Southern and I'm pleased that we got to come up here and represent the school the way that I think everyone would be proud of. I don't think we played as well as we wanted to for 40 minutes but we just played really tough and batted."
On the fourth-quarter run that enabled the Eagles to pull away for the win
"I think what we saw tonight was that, even though this is a new team, we do have some veterans and they didn't panic when it got tight. They just went down and made the plays that they needed to make. We went with two point guards late in Nakiyah and Bukky and they did a great job of keeping the team settled. And when McKenna Eddings steps up to make big shots like that, it takes the pressure off of everyone."
Next Up
Georgia Southern travels to Jacksonville, Fla., to take on the University of North Florida on Saturday, November 9 in a 1 p.m. contest against the Ospreys.