Following their 68-60 loss to UNC Greensboro Monday night at Hanner Fieldhouse, the Lady Eagles couldn’t help but feel like they let one slip away.
“It was a golden opportunity for us to steal one here on our floor, and we let it get away from us,” Georgia Southern coach Rusty Cram said. “I just can’t tell you the disappointment in the fundamentals of the game tonight. We would have won the ballgame tonight if we just would have played fundamental basketball, but we didn’t. The bottom line is we didn’t deserve the game tonight.”
Georgia Southern cut UNCG’s lead to single digits three times in the final three minutes thanks to freshman point guard Carolyn Whitney, whose three-point play made it 59-51 with 2:54 remaining. She also hit a pair of 3-pointers with under one minute to go, but UNCG sunk seven of its final eight free-throw attempts to keep the Eagles at bay. Ashley Melson’s long 3 from the top of the key as time expired provided the final margin.
“We were only down by 11 with three minutes to go,” Whitney said. “Three minutes is such a long time — you can’t give up. There have just been so many comebacks that I’ve seen and been through, so you just can’t give up ever.”
GSU couldn’t match UNCG inside where the Spartans outscored the Eagles 34-14 in the paint. Cram said only two of those 14 points came off of set plays.
“You can’t score two points in the paint off your plays and expect to play at this level,” Cram said. “That’s my job, and we’ll make adjustments where we have to and work on it. We’ve got to get somebody stepping up inside.”
It was Georgia Southern’s play early in the second half that doomed the Eagles, Cram said. The Spartans led 27-24 at the break and opened the second half with an 8-2 run to take a nine-point edge on a Kristen Boone layup with 17:19 to play.
“I thought the first five or six minutes of the second half we didn’t show up,” Cram said. “We broke down in every area — the rebounds, we weren’t blocking out, we put them on the free-throw line and we weren’t moving our feet. We totally lost our focus, and we were out of control on offense.”
With the loss, their first in three games, the Eagles fell to 9-15 overall and 4-9 in Southern Conference play. GSU is tied for seventh place in the league standings. The Spartans improved to 16-8 overall and 9-4 in the SoCon.
The Eagles led just once in the game after an Ashley Rivens 3 at the 7:01 mark in the first half. Whitney turned in a team-high 15 points, while Rivens scored 11 (eight in the first half), Tiffany Brown added nine and Shawnda Atwood and Melson scored eight apiece.
The first half was evenly matched and featured five ties as the teams exchanged baskets most of the way. But the Eagles never picked up much ground on the Spartans, who’ve won the last three meetings with GSU.
“UNC Greensboro is a very experienced team,” Whitney said. “They know what to do. They handled every situation well. They answered every time we scored.”
KeLeah Latham fueled the Spartans early, scoring 12 first-half points including eight of UNCG’s first 13. She finished with a game-high 19 to lead three Spartans in double figures. Boone added 16 and Jasmine Dixon scored 11 for UNCG.
“We had a chance to take this one to the house and didn’t do it,” Cram said. “I’m just extremely disappointed, but we’ve got to regroup, go to work and try to get ready for the next one.”
Georgia Southern begins a three-game road trip Saturday at Davidson.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
“It was a golden opportunity for us to steal one here on our floor, and we let it get away from us,” Georgia Southern coach Rusty Cram said. “I just can’t tell you the disappointment in the fundamentals of the game tonight. We would have won the ballgame tonight if we just would have played fundamental basketball, but we didn’t. The bottom line is we didn’t deserve the game tonight.”
Georgia Southern cut UNCG’s lead to single digits three times in the final three minutes thanks to freshman point guard Carolyn Whitney, whose three-point play made it 59-51 with 2:54 remaining. She also hit a pair of 3-pointers with under one minute to go, but UNCG sunk seven of its final eight free-throw attempts to keep the Eagles at bay. Ashley Melson’s long 3 from the top of the key as time expired provided the final margin.
“We were only down by 11 with three minutes to go,” Whitney said. “Three minutes is such a long time — you can’t give up. There have just been so many comebacks that I’ve seen and been through, so you just can’t give up ever.”
GSU couldn’t match UNCG inside where the Spartans outscored the Eagles 34-14 in the paint. Cram said only two of those 14 points came off of set plays.
“You can’t score two points in the paint off your plays and expect to play at this level,” Cram said. “That’s my job, and we’ll make adjustments where we have to and work on it. We’ve got to get somebody stepping up inside.”
It was Georgia Southern’s play early in the second half that doomed the Eagles, Cram said. The Spartans led 27-24 at the break and opened the second half with an 8-2 run to take a nine-point edge on a Kristen Boone layup with 17:19 to play.
“I thought the first five or six minutes of the second half we didn’t show up,” Cram said. “We broke down in every area — the rebounds, we weren’t blocking out, we put them on the free-throw line and we weren’t moving our feet. We totally lost our focus, and we were out of control on offense.”
With the loss, their first in three games, the Eagles fell to 9-15 overall and 4-9 in Southern Conference play. GSU is tied for seventh place in the league standings. The Spartans improved to 16-8 overall and 9-4 in the SoCon.
The Eagles led just once in the game after an Ashley Rivens 3 at the 7:01 mark in the first half. Whitney turned in a team-high 15 points, while Rivens scored 11 (eight in the first half), Tiffany Brown added nine and Shawnda Atwood and Melson scored eight apiece.
The first half was evenly matched and featured five ties as the teams exchanged baskets most of the way. But the Eagles never picked up much ground on the Spartans, who’ve won the last three meetings with GSU.
“UNC Greensboro is a very experienced team,” Whitney said. “They know what to do. They handled every situation well. They answered every time we scored.”
KeLeah Latham fueled the Spartans early, scoring 12 first-half points including eight of UNCG’s first 13. She finished with a game-high 19 to lead three Spartans in double figures. Boone added 16 and Jasmine Dixon scored 11 for UNCG.
“We had a chance to take this one to the house and didn’t do it,” Cram said. “I’m just extremely disappointed, but we’ve got to regroup, go to work and try to get ready for the next one.”
Georgia Southern begins a three-game road trip Saturday at Davidson.
Alex Pellegrino can be reached at (912) 489-9413.
