Georgia Southern won the tip-off against Georgia State, the offense had a good possession, and sophomore guard Alexis Brown drained a three-pointer. Everything pointed to it looking like a great afternoon.

Then the Panthers scored. Then the Panthers rebounded. Then the Panthers scored. Then the Panthers rebounded.

A game that was fairly competitive in the first quarter turned ugly quickly behind the home team’s sharp shooting and forward Francesca Minali’s 11 first half rebounds.

The Eagles had several opportunities on offense in the first quarter they were unable to capitalize on.

Brown hit another three pointer to make it a 6-4 game early, but then the Eagles started fouling. Several missed shots from both squads resulted in quite an ugly contest.

The second quarter was a totally different beast of a game. GSU came out on fire with long, effective offensive possessions.

GS’ inability to create offense of their own didn’t help the visitor’s case.

The final four minutes of the 1st half was sheer dominance from the Panthers, ending on a 14-3 scoring run.

{{tncms-inline account=”GS W. Basketball” html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Panthers end the second quarter on a 14-3 run to lead at the break. Alexis Brown's nine points lead the Eagles <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SouthernNotState?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SouthernNotState</a> <a href="https://t.co/IGneqdzEus">pic.twitter.com/IGneqdzEus</a></p>— GS W. Basketball (@GSAthletics_WBB) <a href="https://twitter.com/GSAthletics_WBB/status/954770885197619204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2018</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/GSAthletics_WBB/status/954770885197619204″ type=”twitter”}}

Second Half

GS started to get back in the game midway through the third, initiating a full-court press.

More hope was restored in the fourth with some free throws and senior guard Trellanie English-Lurry knocking down a three.

It wouldn’t be enough though as things got feisty and the Eagles started relentlessly fouling.

The Eagles will return to action this Thursday in Hanner against Texas State. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.