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GS Women's Basketball sets records in destruction of Carver
GS Basketball
Georgia Southern's Constance Thomas, left, gets an assist to teammate Rachel Johnson with a behind-the-back pass in the third quarter against Carver at Hanner Fieldhouse on Monday, Dec. 13.

The Gorgia Southern women’s basketball team put a whipping of biblical proportions on Carver College (formally Carver Bible College) Monday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse setting a school record with a 133-15 victory.


The Eagles had previously broken the school record for points in a game this past Saturday as they knocked off Garnder Webb 121-105. The Eagles raced out to a 19-0 lead before Carver scored their first bucket of the game with 3:44 left in the first quarter. The Eagles actually held Carver scoreless in the second quarter as their lead increased to 60-5. 


"Hats off to Carver,” said Eagle head coach Anita Howard. “This is one of our non-Division-1 opponents, so I talked to our kids about focusing on what we do. When you go to work you do your job. Our job is to defend, rebound and run. We have to have this same kind of defensive effort against a Kennesaw, against a Bethune-Cookman coming up."


Monday was Kid’s Field Trip day at Hanner which saw the second largest crowd to ever watch a women’s basketball game turn out with a packed house of 2,568 on hand for the thrashing.


"The atmosphere was great,” said Howard. “It was an early game, so in the locker room I could tell our energy was down. But hearing the kids yell and scream for every little thing helped us wake up. They make our players feel like local celebrities. This is what we would love for Hanner to look like on a consistent basis."


Hot shooting and plenty of points off turnovers were part of the reason for the lopsided score. Georgia Southern tied a school record with 28 steals which also attributed to their 78-0 edge in points off turnovers. The Eagles also had a 49-0 advantage in fastbreak points, and the 118-point margin of victory was also a school record. Georgia Southern shot 60 percent from the field and had 90 points in the paint.


“We challenge them to play like this in every game,” said Howard. “I told them that while this was a fun atmosphere it is still a business trip. This is a game we should win and did win, but it is not about just winning it is about how you are winning. Are we getting better or just winning a game. I challenged them to get better and I think we did that.”


Eight different players scored in double digits Monday led by Rachel Johnson with 18 points. Constance Thomas had 17 points, Taya Gibson had 15 points and seven rebounds while Daeja Holmes came through with 12 points, nine assists and seven steals. Ja’Naya Love-Hill, Simone James and Thaniya Marks each had 11 points while Lydia Freeman added 10 points and seven rebounds.


Up next for the Eagles is a quick trip up to the metro Atlanta area to take on Kennesaw State in a Friday night tipoff scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.