Women’s basketball heads to App State looking for fourth consecutive win

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Jerell Rushin

The Eagles take their season-high, three game winning streak on the road, as they travel to App State, looking to defeat the rival once again.

Head Coach Kip Drown and his team are coming off of a 76-65 win over UL Monroe, in which the Eagles left the Warhawks in the dust in the second half. Alexis Brown led the charge, scoring a career-high 22 points while only playing 19 minutes. Brown and her teammates would love to see the talented freshman do more of the same against App State.

In the first meeting between the two, Georgia Southern narrowly downed App State by three inside of Hanner Fieldhouse, despite getting out-rebounded 48-30. Madi Story would grab 12 of those 48 rebounds, which led to many extra offensive possessions for the Mountaineers during their 53-50 loss.

There will almost certainly be an emphasis on getting in better position to grab rebounds at all five positions for Georgia Southern. App State shot poorly from the field that day, but even the poorest shooting teams will eventually capitalize on that large of a rebounding advantage.

The Eagles might look to get their sharpshooters plenty of open looks again when they travel to Boone, N.C. It was freshman Nakol Franks who caught fire against the Mountaineers in their January meeting. Franks went 3/4 from three, including the most important basket of the game, a three pointer to break a 48-48 tie with only 20 seconds remaining.

Another key for Georgia Southern during the first matchup was forcing turnovers, as they turned App State over 18 times during their 53-50 victory. Both Georgia Southern and App State are in the middle of the pack in the Sun Belt regarding turnover margin, so that could be good indicator of who wins the game just as it was the first time around.

Tipoff against App State is 7 p.m. on Thursday night. Georgia Southern sits at fourth place in the Sun Belt at 6-5. App State is 4-7 in conference, good enough for seventh.