Tiffany Brown said she hasn't changed much lately.
The Georgia Southern junior guard has been on fire the last two games, combining for 41 points and shooting nearly 52 percent from the field to help the Lady Eagles to consecutive wins over co-league leader Western Carolina and Appalachian State. Her late-season surge, she said, is nothing more than a renewed focus. Instead of “just throwing it up there” Brown has been making an effort to concentrate more on her shots.
Her coach, 11th-year head man Rusty Cram, thinks there's a little more to it.
“Her attitude is different,” said Cram, whose squad hosts Southern Conference power Chattanooga today at 5 p.m. in GSU's final home game of the season. “She's working extremely hard and becoming a competitor in a lot more areas than she was before. She's getting to be more of that complete player.”
Perhaps more than anything, what's aided the 5-foot-5 speedster is her teammates, who've helped carry the load offensively. Sophomore Ashley Melson chipped in a career-high 18 points in the ASU win, and sophomore Ashley Rivens added a career-best 20 against Western.
“We're coming together as a team now,” Brown said. “I'm feeling pretty good, and everyone is doing well on the court which is helping out.”
Cram agreed.
“Everybody was keying her, but what was happening is we weren't having anybody else step up and so (opponents) were able to take her out of the ball game,” he said. “Now we've got a couple other players stepping up and scoring, which relieves some of the pressure on her and frees her up some.”
After posting a career-high 27 points in a win at Wofford on Jan. 29, Brown was unusually quiet, combining for 26 points in GSU's next three games.
“I was healthy, I just wasn't hitting anything,” she said. “When I shot the ball it just wasn't going in.”
But it didn't take long for the Eagles' leading scorer (14.7 points per game) to get back on track.
“I think she realized that without her scoring, it's a slim chance of us pulling out a victory,” said junior forward Shawnda Atwood. “She's stepping up to the challenge, and she's doing an excellent job. I'm proud of her.”
With two regular-season games remaining before the Southern Conference tournament, Brown couldn't have picked a better time to come on strong. Tonight the Eagles (11-16, 6-10) will be up against a Lady Mocs (20-7, 13-3) team tied with Western for first place in the league standings. Chattanooga, which secured its eighth consecutive 20-win season with Saturday's win over Charleston, has won two straight. Brown said Southern's win over Western was crucial because it gave the Eagles the confidence they'll need heading into tonight.
“We know we can beat any team in this conference, we've just got to come out hard and outscore them,” she said.
Brown, who has led the Eagles in scoring 12 times this year, averages a team-high 1.9 steals per game, while her 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest ranks second. She said she tries not to think too much about always being the center of opponent's defensive game plans, and Cram knows her contributions to the team are invaluable.
“She's our quickness,” Cram said. “She beats presses, she can score inside and out and she's just a very vital part of this team. She's always been a scorer - that's what we signed her for. She's got some of those God-given gifts that you can't teach as a coach. She's taken those, blended them within a team concept and it's starting to come around for her and us.”
For now, Brown said her focus is helping the Eagles get the best seeding possible for the league tournament. Georgia Southern is currently in sixth place in the SoCon standings and concludes the regular season Saturday at Charleston. If the Eagles can finish sixth or higher, they'll open tournament play Thursday, March 1 instead of Tuesday, Feb. 27.
“We have to win one of our last two so we won't be in the play-in game,” Cram said. “It doesn't matter which game we win, but preferably we'd like to win both. That's what we are going to try to do. We've got the conference leader on our floor, and we've played pretty good the last two games, so it's good timing.”
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
The Georgia Southern junior guard has been on fire the last two games, combining for 41 points and shooting nearly 52 percent from the field to help the Lady Eagles to consecutive wins over co-league leader Western Carolina and Appalachian State. Her late-season surge, she said, is nothing more than a renewed focus. Instead of “just throwing it up there” Brown has been making an effort to concentrate more on her shots.
Her coach, 11th-year head man Rusty Cram, thinks there's a little more to it.
“Her attitude is different,” said Cram, whose squad hosts Southern Conference power Chattanooga today at 5 p.m. in GSU's final home game of the season. “She's working extremely hard and becoming a competitor in a lot more areas than she was before. She's getting to be more of that complete player.”
Perhaps more than anything, what's aided the 5-foot-5 speedster is her teammates, who've helped carry the load offensively. Sophomore Ashley Melson chipped in a career-high 18 points in the ASU win, and sophomore Ashley Rivens added a career-best 20 against Western.
“We're coming together as a team now,” Brown said. “I'm feeling pretty good, and everyone is doing well on the court which is helping out.”
Cram agreed.
“Everybody was keying her, but what was happening is we weren't having anybody else step up and so (opponents) were able to take her out of the ball game,” he said. “Now we've got a couple other players stepping up and scoring, which relieves some of the pressure on her and frees her up some.”
After posting a career-high 27 points in a win at Wofford on Jan. 29, Brown was unusually quiet, combining for 26 points in GSU's next three games.
“I was healthy, I just wasn't hitting anything,” she said. “When I shot the ball it just wasn't going in.”
But it didn't take long for the Eagles' leading scorer (14.7 points per game) to get back on track.
“I think she realized that without her scoring, it's a slim chance of us pulling out a victory,” said junior forward Shawnda Atwood. “She's stepping up to the challenge, and she's doing an excellent job. I'm proud of her.”
With two regular-season games remaining before the Southern Conference tournament, Brown couldn't have picked a better time to come on strong. Tonight the Eagles (11-16, 6-10) will be up against a Lady Mocs (20-7, 13-3) team tied with Western for first place in the league standings. Chattanooga, which secured its eighth consecutive 20-win season with Saturday's win over Charleston, has won two straight. Brown said Southern's win over Western was crucial because it gave the Eagles the confidence they'll need heading into tonight.
“We know we can beat any team in this conference, we've just got to come out hard and outscore them,” she said.
Brown, who has led the Eagles in scoring 12 times this year, averages a team-high 1.9 steals per game, while her 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest ranks second. She said she tries not to think too much about always being the center of opponent's defensive game plans, and Cram knows her contributions to the team are invaluable.
“She's our quickness,” Cram said. “She beats presses, she can score inside and out and she's just a very vital part of this team. She's always been a scorer - that's what we signed her for. She's got some of those God-given gifts that you can't teach as a coach. She's taken those, blended them within a team concept and it's starting to come around for her and us.”
For now, Brown said her focus is helping the Eagles get the best seeding possible for the league tournament. Georgia Southern is currently in sixth place in the SoCon standings and concludes the regular season Saturday at Charleston. If the Eagles can finish sixth or higher, they'll open tournament play Thursday, March 1 instead of Tuesday, Feb. 27.
“We have to win one of our last two so we won't be in the play-in game,” Cram said. “It doesn't matter which game we win, but preferably we'd like to win both. That's what we are going to try to do. We've got the conference leader on our floor, and we've played pretty good the last two games, so it's good timing.”
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
