The Georgia Southern women’s basketball team secured a milestone 20th victory of the season Thursday night, utilizing a dominant first half and timely second-half adjustments to defeat Marshall 76-55.
The win pushes the Eagles to 20-6 overall and 13-2 in conference play, setting a new program record for Sun Belt wins.
From the opening tip, the first half was a heavily one-sided affair. Despite Marshall (22-7, 12-4 SBC) deploying its signature tight pressure defense, Georgia Southern consistently found ways to score. The Eagles dictated the pace immediately, connecting on 10 of their 13 attempts in the opening quarter to build a quick 26-10 edge. The home team expanded that lead to as many as 24 points midway through the second quarter, taking a comfortable 46-33 advantage into the locker room.
“Obviously a huge win for our team,” head coach Hana Haden said. “Marshall is a really good team. They have so many weapons… just really proud of our defensive effort to hold a team like that to 55 points.”
However, Marshall did not go away quietly. The Thundering Herd came out of halftime aggressive, rattling off seven unanswered points to open the third frame and blanking Georgia Southern for five straight minutes to close the gap.
“They really ripped that momentum from us, didn’t they?” Haden said of Marshall’s third-quarter surge. “There’s no transition defense for turnovers… I thought we did a better job cleaning that up to be able to kind of take control back of the game.”
The turning point came at the third-quarter media timeout. Georgia Southern used the stoppage to regroup and stall Marshall’s momentum. Immediately following the break, senior Kishyah “Shy” Anderson sank two crucial consecutive shots to push the Eagles’ lead safely back into double digits.
Anderson was a force all night, logging a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.
“It was very tough. Marshall is a very good team, very good defenders,” Anderson said. “I just felt getting to my spots and all that, I was able to impose my will. You know, I was a hammer, not the nail tonight, and it felt very good.”
Georgia Southern’s defense also clamped down on Marshall’s top threats. While Timaya Lewis-Eutsey—who Haden called “almost impossible to guard one-on-one”—managed 21 points, she was the sole Marshall player to reach double figures. Meanwhile, the Eagles capitalized on mistakes, scoring 25 points off 16 Thundering Herd turnovers. Offensively, Destiny Garrett added 13 points and Kayla Cleaveland chipped in 12 to help seal the 76-55 victory.
The Eagles faced a quick turnaround as they prepared to host ULM on Feb. 21 for their final home game of the regular season. The matchup served as Senior Day, honoring Anderson, McKenna Eddings, Garrett, and Shanti Simmons.
“It’s gonna be very emotional, honestly, because I’m a senior,” Anderson said. “I want to see all the goodies my teammates got for us.”
Coach Haden echoed that sentiment as the program prepares to celebrate a historic senior class.
“I am a big baby, so as animated as I am, and how I coach and everything, I am equally as big of a baby,” Haden said. “These four seniors, we got so lucky to have players of this caliber, and people of this caliber. They are the kind of players that you would coach your entire career if you could.”
