The Georgia Southern women have had one clear-cut ambition since the beginning of this season — to reestablish themselves as one of the Southern Conference’s premier teams.
They took a gigantic step toward that goal Saturday afternoon, knocking off Western Carolina 64-62 to gain sole possession of second place in the league standings.
The Eagles (11-8, 7-1) also extended their season-high winning streak to six games and improved to a perfect 8-0 at home this season. The fourth-largest crowd in GSU women’s basketball history (1,710) was on hand for the win, which snapped Western’s six-game winning steak.
“Confidence is at an all-time high,” Eagle coach Rusty Cram said.
Georgia Southern’s dominating defense held Western to 13 points and three field goals in the first half. The Eagles owned a 12-point lead at the break, but the Catamounts (14-6, 6-2) exploded out of the locker room, unleashing 16 unanswered points – including three straight 3s - to regain the lead at 29-27 with 15:51 to play.
“There was never a doubt in my mind they were going to make a run — that’s just their style,” Cram said. “My question was, when they made that run - how were we going to respond to it? Our kids fought back, and I’m proud of them for that.”
The Eagles built their lead back to nine after back-to-back 3s by Ashley Rivens and Tiffany Brown with 7:42 remaining but couldn’t relax as Western constantly battled back.
After Western pulled with in one on a Kendra Eaton layup with 41 seconds to go, GSU missed a jumper but got the ball back when WCU’s Jessika Johnson lost control in the left corner, giving the Eagles possession with 10.4 seconds left.
Western went to a full-court press, but GSU eventually broke through and Rivens was fouled. She hit the front end of a 1-and-1, and Western inbounded with 1.5 ticks remaining but couldn’t get a shot off.
“We knew we were going to have to keep stepping up,” said Brown, a senior who vividly remembers Western topping the Eagles in double overtime of the SoCon championship game her freshman year. The Catamounts also knocked GSU out of the tournament last year, and those defeats made Saturday’s win even more special for the Eagles.
Ashley Melson and Brown had a team-high 11 points apiece for the Eagles, while J’Lisia Ogburn added 10 points and six rebounds. Eaton scored a game-high 15 for the Catamounts, and Monique Dawson posted 13.
GSU completely shut down the Southern Conference’s best offense in the first half, suffocating the Catamounts with a shadow man-to-man to take away their penetration and force them beat the Eagles with their outside game.
Western hit its first attempt of the night but then missed 18 straight shots, going 13:14 without a field goal. The Catamounts were an abysmal 3 of 26 (11.5 percent) in the first 20 minutes.
“I thought our kids played it to perfection in that first half,” Cram said. “We couldn’t have done a better job defensively. We took away some of their strengths, and they had a hard time adjusting to it.”
The Eagles weren’t much better from the field in the first 20 minutes (9 for 32), but owned a 25-13 lead at the break. Western’s 13 points were the fewest in a half by the Catamounts this season.
The Eagles have another huge game Monday, hitting the road for a 7 p.m. game at league-leading Chattanooga. The Mocs are a perfect 9-0 in SoCon play.
“We knew if we won this game, we’d go into Chattanooga looking good,” Brown said. “We know we can play with them.”
Notes: Western’s wins this season include victories over Clemson, then-21st ranked Louisville, Hawaii and Oregon State…The Eagles wore pink shoe laces for Saturday’s Pack the House in Pink event, which promoted breast cancer awareness. GSU honored five breast cancer survivors prior to the game.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
They took a gigantic step toward that goal Saturday afternoon, knocking off Western Carolina 64-62 to gain sole possession of second place in the league standings.
The Eagles (11-8, 7-1) also extended their season-high winning streak to six games and improved to a perfect 8-0 at home this season. The fourth-largest crowd in GSU women’s basketball history (1,710) was on hand for the win, which snapped Western’s six-game winning steak.
“Confidence is at an all-time high,” Eagle coach Rusty Cram said.
Georgia Southern’s dominating defense held Western to 13 points and three field goals in the first half. The Eagles owned a 12-point lead at the break, but the Catamounts (14-6, 6-2) exploded out of the locker room, unleashing 16 unanswered points – including three straight 3s - to regain the lead at 29-27 with 15:51 to play.
“There was never a doubt in my mind they were going to make a run — that’s just their style,” Cram said. “My question was, when they made that run - how were we going to respond to it? Our kids fought back, and I’m proud of them for that.”
The Eagles built their lead back to nine after back-to-back 3s by Ashley Rivens and Tiffany Brown with 7:42 remaining but couldn’t relax as Western constantly battled back.
After Western pulled with in one on a Kendra Eaton layup with 41 seconds to go, GSU missed a jumper but got the ball back when WCU’s Jessika Johnson lost control in the left corner, giving the Eagles possession with 10.4 seconds left.
Western went to a full-court press, but GSU eventually broke through and Rivens was fouled. She hit the front end of a 1-and-1, and Western inbounded with 1.5 ticks remaining but couldn’t get a shot off.
“We knew we were going to have to keep stepping up,” said Brown, a senior who vividly remembers Western topping the Eagles in double overtime of the SoCon championship game her freshman year. The Catamounts also knocked GSU out of the tournament last year, and those defeats made Saturday’s win even more special for the Eagles.
Ashley Melson and Brown had a team-high 11 points apiece for the Eagles, while J’Lisia Ogburn added 10 points and six rebounds. Eaton scored a game-high 15 for the Catamounts, and Monique Dawson posted 13.
GSU completely shut down the Southern Conference’s best offense in the first half, suffocating the Catamounts with a shadow man-to-man to take away their penetration and force them beat the Eagles with their outside game.
Western hit its first attempt of the night but then missed 18 straight shots, going 13:14 without a field goal. The Catamounts were an abysmal 3 of 26 (11.5 percent) in the first 20 minutes.
“I thought our kids played it to perfection in that first half,” Cram said. “We couldn’t have done a better job defensively. We took away some of their strengths, and they had a hard time adjusting to it.”
The Eagles weren’t much better from the field in the first 20 minutes (9 for 32), but owned a 25-13 lead at the break. Western’s 13 points were the fewest in a half by the Catamounts this season.
The Eagles have another huge game Monday, hitting the road for a 7 p.m. game at league-leading Chattanooga. The Mocs are a perfect 9-0 in SoCon play.
“We knew if we won this game, we’d go into Chattanooga looking good,” Brown said. “We know we can play with them.”
Notes: Western’s wins this season include victories over Clemson, then-21st ranked Louisville, Hawaii and Oregon State…The Eagles wore pink shoe laces for Saturday’s Pack the House in Pink event, which promoted breast cancer awareness. GSU honored five breast cancer survivors prior to the game.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
