In the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, sixth-seeded Georgia Southern fell 61-54 to eleventh-seeded Arkansas State.

Senior Angel McGowan scored 19 points and added six rebounds in her last career game as an Eagle. Sierra Butler finished the game with 11 points and nine rebounds.

Jada Ford led Arkansas State in scoring with 25 and recorded five steals off the bench. Lauren Bradshaw’s 13 rebounds helped ASU outrebound the Eagles by 14.

Entering the game last in the Sun Belt in rebounding margin at -6.8, the Red Wolves enjoyed being on the other side of the statistic. Both teams shot under 35 percent from field for the game and had identical 6/20 marks from three point range.

Arkansas State led at halftime 23-20, but Georgia Southern took the lead midway through the third period. The Red Wolves responded with a 10-0 run and never allowed GS to regain the lead.

The early round exit for the Eagles may come as a surprise to many fans because the Eagles defeated the previous six-win Red Wolves 84-76 just two games before they met again on Tuesday night.

Georgia Southern finished the season at 13-17 overall and 8-9 in the Sun Belt. In their final games wearing Georgia Southern uniforms, Patrice Butler recorded six points and nine rebounds, and Alexis Sams recorded five points and four rebounds.

Arkansas State will face third-seeded Troy in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Regular season Sun Belt champions and first-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock will play ninth-seeded Appalachian State.