NORFOLK, Va. (Nov. 21, 2006) ? In her first collegiate start and only her second appearance of the season, Georgia State freshman guard Tabitha David (Mableton, Ga.) scored 18 points in the first half en route to a game-high 21 as the Panthers defeated Norfolk State 91-70 in women's basketball action Tuesday evening at Echols Hall. The victory is the first for Georgia State this season which moves to 1-3 on the year. The Spartans remain winless at 0-4.

David led six players in double figures as Georgia State posted its highest point total since a 91-70 victory over Jacksonville State on Feb. 22, 2003. Freshman forward Danyiell McKeller (Fayetteville, N.C.) totaled 15 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen (St. Petersburg, Fla.) posted 14 points, six rebounds, eight assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Sophomore guard Brittany Hollins (Columbia, S.C.), who played the point guard position for the first time this season, collected 13 points and a game-high nine assists.

Also in double figures was freshman guard Eboni Fields (Augusta, Ga.) who came off the bench to record 11 points, on 5-of-6 shooting, in seven minutes. Sophomore forward Marcquitta Head (Conley, Ga.) collected 12 points and a game-best 12 rebounds also in reserve for the Panthers.

“Coach [Lea Henry] has a lot of faith in me as a scorer,” stated David. “I'm confident in my abilities too, so when Coach said I'd be starting tonight, I knew I had to be ready to play well. We know that we are better team than what our record shows.
We just need to take things one game at a time and play with 100 percent effort each time we step out on to the court. When we do that, like we did tonight, good things will happen.”

“We've always known Tabitha [David] could shoot the ball, but her playing time has been limited because she's been playing behind Kelcey [Roegiers-Jensen],” stated head coach Lea Henry. “We needed to change the tempo of our team after our loss on Sunday, so we put Brittany [Hollins] in at the point, which allowed us to insert Tabitha into the lineup. It was great to see so many players contribute to this victory. This is the type of production we thought we would get from this team. Now, we just need to remain consistent and continue to develop our chemistry offensively.”

Norfolk State took a 4-0 lead early before Georgia State started to pull away. The Panthers went on a 14-2 run, fueled by a 3-pointer from David who made 6-of-7 from three in the first half, to stake a 14-6 advantage with 13:01 remaining and never trailed the rest of the way. Leading 24-19 with 6:06 on the clock, Fields scored seven straight points and David closed with three consecutive 3-point field goals for Georgia State which closed the period on a 22-6 run for a 45-25 halftime lead.

The Panthers logged their biggest lead of the game ? 26 points ? on two separate occasions in the second frame, and the Spartans never got closer than 15 with 6:12 remaining in the contest, 73-58.

Toia Johnson led four Norfolk State players in double figures with 20 points. Nadege Dareus registered 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Ebony Gibbs came off the bench to score 14 points and dish out a team-best eight assists. Areya Walker finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

Georgia State made 52 percent of its shots and was 9-of-11 from 3-point range for 82 percent. The Panthers out rebounded the Spartans, 49-34, and posted 25 assists on 31 made field goals. Norfolk State shot 36 percent from the floor

Georgia State concludes its season-opening school-record five-game road swing on Saturday when the Panthers take on Jacksonville State at 6 p.m. EST (5 p.m. local) after the Thanksgiving break.

Box Score

Georgia State (1-3) ? 45-46=91