BALTIMORE (Jan. 22) ? Georgia State dropped a 71-67 to Towson in a Colonial Athletic Association game Thursday night.
The difference in the game was at the free throw line where Towson tied a school record for most free throws in a game (43), while visiting State shot just 12, with six of State's 12 in the last minute and a half.
Georgia State (9-7, 2-4) was led by point guard Crystal Johnson's 19 points and eight assists,with 16 more points from guard Jylisa Williams. Wing Brittany Graham came off the bench to hit five three-point baskets for 15 points. Coach Lea Henry picked up her first technical in her 15 years at Georgia State and another technical was assessed to a player in the first half. Leading scorer and rebounder Danyiell McKeller missed her third straight game with a knee injury. Two Georgia State players fouled out with the 30 called on State to just 11 on Towson.
Towson (11-5, 3-3) got 21 points off the bench from Omara Parker and 15 points and seven assists from Shanae Baker-Brice, with seven of those points at the free throw line in the last minute.
“I am proud of how hard the team fought tonight,” said head coach Lea Henry. “The kids deserved to win with the kind of effort they gave tonight. We had opportunities to win a road CAA game, but give Towson credit for a good, tough effort. Yes, there was an obvious discrepancy in the fouls called tonight, but that's all I will say.”
Host Towson had opened a 10-point lead early in the second half, but visiting State closed back to 50-48 with 8:21 left and the game was up for grabs down the stretch. After four times being down by two points, it was still 59-57 with 3:50 left. Towson never made another field goal as they shot 16 free throws from that point on.
Towson started with a quick 6-0 run to open the game, but Georgia State came back with a 5-1 run to make it 7-5. With Towson up 12-8 at 11:45, Georgia State got a 3-point basket from Brittany Graham and a 3-point play the old-fashioned way from Brittany Hollins to take the lead 14-12 at 9:28. Jylisa Williams' jumper at 3:06 gave State its last lead of the first half at 22-20. Parker then scored seven straight points for Towson on a trey and two drives to give the Tigers a 27-22 lead with 53 seconds. Towson took a 28-24 lead into the halftime break behind 10 points from Parker, who averages nine points on the season.
After playing these three straight CAA road games, Georgia State will return home to Atlanta to play host to Hofstra University on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in the annual Girls and Women in Sports Day.
