No. 12 seed Georgia Southern women's basketball used a dominating inside presence to knock off No. 13 seed Southern Miss, 70-59, and advance after the first day of the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Pensacola on Tuesday.
The Eagles (15-17) pick up a win in the Sun Belt tournament for a second straight year and a third year out of the last four. Southern Miss sees its season come to a close at 10-21.
Georgia Southern opened up a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 16-11, and stretched that advantage to eight points, 36-28, at the break. The inside presence of Leah Johnson and Indya Greencombined for 14 points and 10 rebounds at halftime.
That advantage continued in the second half as Johnson scored 12 of her game-high 26 points in the third quarter alone as the Eagles built a double-digit lead, 53-43, with 2:48 left to go in the period. USM would cut the lead to five, but would get no closer as the Eagles closed out the victory.
Johnson was joined in double figures by Nicole Gwynn, who had 11 points, as well as Green, who scored 10 points to go with her game-high 13 rebounds. Melyia Grayson led Southern Miss on the day with 16 points.
Eagle of the Game
Johnson added 10 rebounds and a blocked shot to her season-best 26 point output. She hit 12-of-20 shots from the floor and seven of her 10 rebounds came on the offensive end. It was her third 20-point performance of the season.
Stat of the Game
50 of the Eagles' 70 points in the contest came in the paint, and Georgia Southern enjoyed a 50-24 edge in points in the paint over the Golden Eagles.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on opening Sun Belt Tournament play with the victory
"It's nice to get the first one out of the way. There's still a lot of possibilities left to play of course. It's good to get a win in the building, and to get the nerves out from being in the tournament. With all the emotions involved, especially with the seniors coming at the end of the year, it's great to be able to get that first win."
Coach Haden the difference in the game game against Southern Miss
"We had 50 points in the paint, largely thanks to Indya Green and Leah Johnson, both with double-doubles. Southern Miss is a good team, Melyia Grayson is a handful and we know she's an all-Conference player. We knew going in that she would be hard to contain, and the way the rest of the team shot the ball, it presented some challenges to us. We had a few more turnovers than we would have liked, but we forced 18 turnovers, so we were able to make up for it. Gritty game, down the stretch. It was a game of runs. Sometimes it's hard to answer back runs, but we were able to do that."
Next Up
Georgia Southern advances to face No. 9 seed ULM in second-round action on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET from Pensacola.
