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Eagles grounded again
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Georgia Southern's Jordi Cook, center, finds the going tough in the lane between Davidson's Jasmine Calin, left, and Sophia Aleksandravicius during the first half at Hanner Fieldhouse Monday. Cook drew a foul on the play.

The Georgia Southern women’s basketball program’s 200th victory in Southern Conference play must wait another day.

GSU lost, 69-62, to Davidson in front of a Hanner Fieldhouse crowd of 625 on Monday night, extending the Lady Eagles’ losing streak to four games. GSU (7-16, 3-11) is 199-141 in 19 seasons in the SoCon.

GSU was led by sophomore guard MiMi DuBose, who scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Junior guard Meredyth Frye scored 11 points.

Davidson (15-7, 11-2) was led by sophomore guard Laura Murray, who scored a game-high 17 points. Davidson forward Sophia Aleksandravicius, a 6-foot-4 junior and the SoCon Preseason Player of the Year, scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Junior guard Barbara Sitton added 10 points.

"They’re two very good people," GSU head coach Rusty Cram said of Murray and Aleksandravicius. "The big girl (Aleksandravicius) is the MVP of the conference. We’ve played her three years in a row. I thought we did a decent job on her. They just never pulled her. If she can go the minutes that she goes, what do you do?

"Murray was hotter than a pistol. She banks in a 3, falling down. That’s incredible. She was hotter than a pistol to start the game. After those first five, six minutes, I thought we did a pretty decent job on her."

GSU lost, 72-48, at Davidson on Dec. 19. Monday night, the Wildcats led, 43-24, at halftime behind Murray’s 14 points. Davidson outrebounded the Lady Eagles, 21-15, in the first half and outscored them, 18-4, in the paint.

GSU’s DuBose scored 11 points in the first half, including three 3-pointers.

In the second half, Davidson led by as many as 23 points, its largest lead of the game. But GSU chipped away, outscoring Davidson, 10-4, in the paint in the second half. The Lady Eagles finished 9-of-20 shooting (45 percent) from 3-point range. In addition to DuBose’s four 3-pointers, Janay Wilson, Anna Claire Knight, Lacie Dowling, Samantha Williams and Jordi Cook each scored from long distance.

"In the second half, we definitely showed that we can compete," Frye said.

Said Cram, "We shot the ball a little bit better tonight. I see a little glimmer there in their eyes. They’re starting to feel pretty good. We’re starting to get some people healthy again. Just some growing up; these freshmen and sophomores are starting to grow up a little bit, and you can see that twinkle in their eye."

Davidson is tied with Chattanooga (16-6, 11-2) for second place in the SoCon behind Appalachian State (17-3, 11-1). GSU lost, 57-46, at Appalachian State on Saturday.

"That’s two of the best teams in the conference we just played pretty decent," Cram said. "Certainly, we’d love to win. You’re not happy with a loss by any stretch of the imagination. But at the same time, you just took two of the top teams to the wire. That bids well for the tournament if we can continue improving."

GSU’s next game is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Samford (13-8, 8-4). Samford beat GSU, 53-47, on Jan. 7.

 

Noell Barnidge can be reached at (912) 489-9408.