Georgia Southern shot 50 percent from the floor and made plays down the stretch to knock off Texas State, 69-62, in Sun Belt Conference women's basketball action on Wednesday evening at the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center.
The Eagles improved to 9-9 overall and 2-4 in the Sun Belt with their third straight win in the series over the Bobcats, who fell to 8-8 overall and 2-4 in the league.
Texas State came out active defensively, forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter and taking an 18-17 lead at the end of the frame. The Bobcats maintained their lead in the second, then with 1:09 left in the second quarter, the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center lost power as a part of a campus-wide power outage. After a delay of about 20 minutes, play resumed and Texas State took a 41-35 lead into halftime.
Georgia Southern responded in the second half, opening the third quarter with a 10-1 run to take a 43-42 lead with 7:10 left in the period. Texas State tied things up on three separate occasions in the second half, but the Eagles were able to get some separation late in the fourth quarter. Indya Green's turnaround jump shot with 2:09 left pushed Georgia Southern's lead to two possessions, 63-58.
Texas State's Sierra Dickson scored a fastbreak layup with 1:13 left to make the score 63-60, but Nicole Gwynn hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to five with 45 seconds remaining. The Bobcats got a bucket from Jaylin Foster with 38 seconds left to again cut the lead to two, but in the final 15 seconds, Nakiyah Mays-Prince hit a floating jump shot in the paint and Shanti Simmons canned a pair of free throws for the final seven-point win.
Indya Green led a trio of Eagles in double figures with 22 points, while Gwynn finished with 17 points after playing all 40 minutes of the contest. Mays-Prince finished with 13 points as well. Texas State was led by 10 points apiece from Ja'Mia Harris and Destiny Terrell.
Eagle of the Game
Green tallied her second straight 20+ point performance and third out of her last four games by shooting 11-of-17 from the field. She added six rebounds and a blocked shot in the victory. In the Eagles' six Sun Belt games so far this year, Green is averaging a team-best 17.5 points per game.
Stat of the Game
Texas State had a 10-0 edge in points off of turnovers in the first half, but Georgia Southern reversed that in the second half, enjoying a 14-5 edge in the category after the break.
Quotables
Head coach Hana Haden on the victory over the Bobcats
"I'm definitely proud of our defensive effort in the second half. Obviously that was something that we addressed at halftime - we were just giving up too many points, letting them get into the paint at will and not containing the ball. I thought we made a really nice adjustment on that in the second half. Holding them to just 21 points [after halftime] was the difference in the game."
Senior Indya Green on the team's second-half surge
"We just knew what we needed to do. We've been stressing it all week with ball containment and rebounding especially. We've been going at each other all week just being competitive, and I think that was the difference."
Next Up
Georgia Southern hosts Georgia State on Saturday, January 18, for a 1 p.m. Sun Belt Conference contest at The Hill.
