Atlanta (Nov. 9) ? In a season-opening game with seven ties and nine lead changes, visiting Florida A&M's Thyeis Halley made a free throw with 1.9 seconds to gain the lead for the final time and claim a 60-58 win over host Georgia State.
Georgia State's Shay Rawls tied the game at 58 with 22.5 seconds and Florida A&M worked the ball into the paint where Halley was fouled with 1.9 on the clock. Since the Panthers had been called for 10 fouls in the second half, it was a two-shot foul. The junior missed her first attempt, but made the second to put FAMU ahead to stay. Georgia State turned the ball over on its final attempt for a win and FAMU made one more free throw with 0.8.
Georgia State got 15 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Danyiell McKeller plus nine point and nine rebounds from sophomore Shay Rawls. Junior guard Brittany Hollins posted eight points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
FAMU saw guard Deidra Jones scored 15 points, with guard Taniyah Dawson adding 10 points and six assists as well as forward Stephanie Foster scoring 10 points.
Georgia State had started the second half with a 10-1 run to open an eight-point lead with 13 minutes left. But, FAMU responded with a 17-2 run to take its largest lead with just over seven minutes to play. Georgia State battled back to quickly tie at 54 with 5:34 to go and set the stage for the see-saw finish.
“We had so many opportunities to win this game tonight,” Coach Lea Henry said post game. “We are going to be a good team this year with a little more time working together. We will keep our heads up and bounce back. Calls can go either way during a game and you just don't want to put yourself in that situation for one call to be the crucial one. We've had some early season injuries and we'll get stronger as we go. We have some correctible things to work on before our next game and we'll get ourselves ready.”
The first half had four ties with FAMU also scoring the last points of the half to take a 36-35 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Georgia State returns to action next Friday in the Carolina First Classic at UNC Asheville as State takes on Gardner-Webb on the first day of the tournament.
