ATLANTA (Mar. 1, 2007) ? Georgia State trailed Old Dominion by only four, 67-63, with 3:10 remaining in the game, but the Lady Monarchs managed to out score the Panthers 13-7 down the stretch in claiming an 80-70 Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball decision Thursday evening at the Georgia State Sports Arena.

Georgia State, which is in the midst of a five-game skid, concludes its regular season with a 15-14 overall record and 7-11 mark in CAA action. The Panthers clinch the eighth seed in the upcoming CAA Tournament, which will be held Thursday-Sunday, March 8-11 at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.

Old Dominion, which is receiving votes in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls, holds onto the No. 1 spot in the CAA standings and improves to 20-8 on the season (16-1 CAA). The Lady Monarchs have one game remaining on their schedule against UNC Wilmington on Saturday.

Georgia State senior guard Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen (St. Petersburg, Fla.) led Georgia State with 17 points and collected a career-high seven steals. Sophomore center Marcquitta Head (Conley, Ga.) recorded her 10th career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Junior center Vatai Smith (Greensboro, N.C.) came off the bench to score 10 and added four blocked shots and four rebounds.

Junior T.J. Jordan led all scorers with 22 points. Sherida Triggs tallied 14 and a team-high nine boards. Jessica Canady came off the bench to register a career-high 12 points for the Lady Monarchs.

Georgia State, which never led in the contest, rallied from a 12-point first half deficit to close to within five at the break. The Panthers had very balanced scoring at the intermission with four players totaling six points and Roegiers-Jensen with seven.

The Panthers continued to play well in the second stanza. State closed to within four on numerous occasions and was as close as three, 62-59, with five minutes left, but could never get over the hump. With State trailing 67-63 after two free throws from Smith, the Lady Monarchs' Canady made two free throws and a jumper and Jordan also posted a jumper to extend the margin to 73-63 with just under two minutes to go.

The Lady Monarchs made their free throws and recorded some timely offensive rebounds in posting their biggest lead of the period, 80-67, at the 1:03 mark. Panthers' freshman guard Tabitha David (Mableton, Ga.) nailed a 3-pointer with 45 seconds on the clock, scoring the final field goal of the contest.

Georgia State shot 45 percent from the floor compared to 40 percent for Old Dominion. Twenty-three of the Lady Monarchs 43 rebounds came off the offensive glass, which resulted in 23 second-chance points. Georgia State collected 40 rebounds.

State will face No. 9 seed Drexel (4-14 CAA) in first round action Thursday at a time to be determined. The Dragons were awarded the No. 9 slot following their win over George Mason Thursday. Drexel owns the tie-breaker over UNCW (3-14 CAA) should the Seahawks defeat ODU Saturday.

Box Score

(rv/rv) Old Dominion (20-8, 16-1 CAA) -- 38-42=80