The Georgia Southern Eagles traveled to Nashville on Friday to start their season against Libscomb. Lipscomb had a record of 6-24 last season, compared to GSU’s record of 10-21.

The game started off with a steal from Angel McGowan that led to a jump-shot from Sierra Kirkland to give GSU the first lead with a score of 2-0. However, this would be the only lead that the Eagles would have all game as Lipscomb came back and came back hard.

Lipscomb had a run where they took the score from 9-7 to 25-7. The biggest point differential happened late in the first half, where Lipscomb led by 22 points with a score of 37-15. The Eagles ended up dropping that lead to 15 at the end of the first half.

The second half is really where the Eagles came back and started to shine. About halfway through the second half, the Eagles were only down by 3, but they just couldn’t take the lead despite multiple times when they were close.

The game ended with a score of 80-74, but multiple Eagles had productive days despite walking away with a loss, including McGowan who led the team in points with 28. This was the highest scoring single game of McGowan’s career.

“Angel is a really great player. She has a lot of confidence making plays, and she’s comfortable finding them,” Head Coach Chris Vozab said.

McGowan also led the team in assists with 5 and was perfect from the free throw line going 6/6. Anna Claire Knight and Alexis Sams tied in steals with 2. The Eagles collectively had 7 steals to the Bison’s 1.

Briana Jones led the team in blocks with 3. The Eagles also had more blocks than the Bison’s, 7-5.

It’s important to note the difference in production for the Eagles between the first and second half. In the first half, the Eagles had a shooting percentage of 35.48 whereas in the second half, they raised that up to 50. They also doubled their shooting percentage from behind the arc, going from 14.29 in the first half to 28.57 in the second.

The Eagles were really outnumbered in points from the bench compared to Lipscomb. Lipscomb had 38 points from the bench compared to the Eagles’ 15.

“We need to work on defending the basketball,” Vozab said when asked what the team needed to work on for their next game against Jacksonville on Tuesday.

The Jacksonville Dolphins currently have the same record as the Eagles after losing to the Florida Gators 84-73. They’ll travel to Hanner on Tuesday to face the Eagles in their home opener.