ATLANTA (Jan. 17) ? When William and Mary found itself down in the second half to Georgia State, it turned to seniors Kyra Kaylor and Devin James for a 75-57 Colonial Athletic victory Thursday night at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
Kaylor scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and James poured in 21 more on 7-of-10 shooting to lead the Tribe (8-8, 2-2). Georgia State had four players score in double figures, with junior guard Brittany Hollins leading the way with 15 points. In addition, Danyiell McKeller added 11 points and Chandrica Smith and Traci Haltiwanger 10 points apiece. Smith's double figures made her the ninth different player this season to reach double digits for State.
After three ties in the second half, Georgia State gained its first lead of the game at 46-44 with 11:24 to play. Then, Kyra Kaylor took the game over with 11 consecutive points while the host Panthers managed just one free throw and at the 7:54 mark, it was 55-47. James then scored the next six for William and Mary and the lead was in double figures to stay at 61-51 with just 5:44 left. The 18-point lead at the buzzer was the largest of the game.
“Well, we played good for maybe 30 minutes, but the game is 40 minutes long,” Coach Lea Henry noted postgame. “You can't relax on either end of the court, mentally or physically, at this level and some of our players are still learning that. You don't win on athleticism; you win by being fundamentally sound on both ends of the court. They are a veteran team with senior leadership and they took the game over down the stretch.”
The Tribe shot 58 percent in the second half and 52.7 for the game, including 53 percent outside the three-point arc on 8-of-15. State shot 42 percent with 27.8 outside the arc on 5-of-18. Georgia State held a 36-28 rebound advantage with 16 offensive boards. Shay Rawls had 10 rebounds to top that category.
In the first half, William and Mary jumped to a quick 13-4 lead with three treys, two by James, before State closed to 21-16 at the nine-minute mark after back-to-back three-point baskets from Hollins and Haltiwanger. A trey by Kaylor built an 11-point advantage at 31-20 with four minutes left and the Tribe took a 36-29 halftime advantage.
State charged out 10-3 to start the second half and tie the game for the first time at 39 with 14:33 on the clock. It was tied twice more as freshman Haltiwanger hit a trey and freshman Chandra Harris followed a miss to give Georgia State its lone lead at 46-44.
Georgia State goes on the road to face Hofstra on Sunday in New York with a 2 p.m. tip time.
